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GUL 68.18

CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY

OF

ANIMAL PLAGUES

FROM A.D. 1800— 1844.

WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR.

EDITOR OF THE "VETERINARY JOURNAL AND ANNALS OF COMPARATIVE PATHOLOGY.

TRAVELS ON HORSEBACK IN MANTCHU TARTARY : Being-

a Summer's Ride beyond the Great Wall of China.

Description of a journey to the Great Wall of China and Moukden, the capital of Manchuria,,
in 1861.

HORSE-SHOES AND HORSE-SHOEING : THEIR ORIGIN,

HISTORY, USES, AND ABUSES. 8vo. 692 pp. With a Coloured Plate and 209 Illustra-
tions.

ANIMAL PLAGUES : THEIR HISTORY, NATURE, AND PRE-
VENTION, ist Series. Svo. 548 pp. Vol. I. London, 1871. 2nd Volume, 1882.

The First Volume of this work is a chronological history of Animal Plagues or Epizooties.
occuring from B.C. 1490 to A.D. 1800, and including the contemporaneous plagues of mankind
and diseases in plants. The Second Volume brings the history up from A.D. 1800 to A.D. 1844.

PRACTICAL HORSE-SHOEING. Prize Essay.

RABIES AND HYDROPHOBIA : THEIR HISTORY, NATURE,

CAUSES, SYMPTOMS, AND PREVENTION. With Two Coloured Plates and Six Illus-
trations.

THE COMPARATIVE ANATOMY OF THE DOMESTICATED

ANIMALS.

A translation of Professor Chauveau's " Traife d'Anatomie Comparee des Animaux Domes-
tiques," greatly enlarged, and adapted to the requirements of English Anatomists.

A MANUAL OF VETERINARY SANITARY SCIENCE AND

POLICE. With 33 Illustrations.

THE CONTAGIOUS DISEASES OF ANIMALS : Their Influence

on the Health and Wealth of the Nation, and how they are to be combated. A Lecture
before the Society of Arts.

A TEXT-BOOK OF VETERINARY OBSTETRICS : Including the

Diseases and Accidents incidental to Pregnancy, Parturition, and Early Age in the Domesti-
cated Animals. With 212 Illustrations.

TUBERCULOSIS FROM A SANITARY AND PATHOLOGICAL

POINT OF VIEW.

HUMAN AND ANIMAL VARIOLA : A STUDY IN COMPARA-
TIVE PATHOLOGY.
An attempt to study comparatively Variolous Disease in all the Domesticated Animals, and to
demonstrate that each Species has its own particular Variola.

A TEXT-BOOK OF OPERATIVE VETERINARY SURGERY.

With nearly 400 Illustrations. course 0/ Publicatioiu

A TEXT-BOOK OF VETERINARY PATHOLOGY AND

PRACTICAL THERAPEUTICS. iPreparing fot P?Micatw)u

ANIMAL PLAGUES:

THEIR

HISTORY, NATURE, AND PREVENTION.

BY

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

PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF VETERINARY SURGEONS ; CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF
THE SOCIETE NATIONALS ET CENTRALE DE MEDECINE VETERINAIRE OF PARIS ; OF THE
REALE SOCIETE NAZIONALE DI MEDICINA VETERINARIA, AND ACCADEMIA VETERINARIA,
OF ITALY ; OF^THE SOCIETE VETERINAIRE d' ALSACE LORRAINE ; OF THE ASSOCIATION
MEDICALE VETERINAIRE OF ANTWERP ; OF THE SOCIETE DB MEDECINE
VETERINAIRE OF LIEGE, ETC.

VOLUME II.
[FROM A.D. 1800— 1844.)

LONDON :

BAILLIERE, TINDALL, AND COX,
20, KING WILLIAM STREET, STRAND.
[PARIS AND MADRID.]

1882.

c

[All Rights Reserved.]

TO

Lord-President of the Privy Council and Lord- Lieutenant
of Ireland,

THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED

IN GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF HIS INVALUABLE SERVICES IN
PROMOTING VETERINARY SCIENCE, AND PARTICULARLY IN
CONNECTION WITH THE VETERINARY SURGEONS
ACT OF 1881.

ERRATUM.

Page 448, Chapter V., for ' Period from a.d. 1840 to A.D. 1842,' read ' Period
from A.D, 1841 to A.D. 1844.'

CONTENTS.

PAGE

Preface . . . . _ _ _ -xi

CHAPTER I.

PERIOD FROM A.D. x88o TO A.D. 1815.

Malignant Yellow Fever in Mankind, in America and Spain, and 'a
similar Disease in Animals, i. Epizootic Ekzema in Germany, and
Anthrax in the Venetian States, 2. Hydro-rachitis in Sheep, 2. Glanders
among Expeditionary Horses, 2. Cattle Plague on the Continent, 3.
Sheep-pox in France, 3. Carbuncular Erysipelas in Ireland, 4. Gloss-
anthrax in Switzerland, 4. Influenza in Horses in Ireland, 4. Anthrax
in the Bavarian Alps, 5. Epidemic and Epizootic Influenza in England
and France, 6. Distemper in Cats throughout Europe, 8. Rabies among
Foxes in Switzerland, 8. Rabies among Dogs in Peru, 9. Influenza
among Horses in Germany, Holland, and Northern France, 14. Rabies
among Foxes in Wurtemberg and Baden, 15. Influenza among Horses in
Germany, 18. Distemper in Dogs in England, 19. Spanish Foot-rot of
Sheep in Switzerland and Italy, 20. Rabies in England, 20. Rabies in
Foxes in Germany, 20. Anthrax in Germany, Austria, and Hungary, 21.
Glanders in France, 22. Influenza in Prussia, 22. Disease among Animals
in Ceylon, 22. Cattle Plague in Austria and Prussia, 23. Canine Small-
pox at Lyons, 23. Variola Canina, 24. Epizooty of Bilious Fever in
Horses, 26. Rabies in Foxes in Zurich, 27. Foot-and-Mouth Disease
on the Continent, 27. Cattle Plague in Siberia, 29. Contagious Pleuro-
pneumonia and Anthrax in Bavaria, 29. Rabies in America, 29. Rot in
Sheep in England, 29. Cattle Plague in Austria, 30. Gangrenous
Erysipelas in Pigs in France, 31. Influenza among Horses in Pied-
mont, 31. Rot among Sheep in France, 31. Epizootic Pleuro-pneumonia
in Switzerland, 32. Influenza among Army Horses on the Continent, 32.
Glanders among Army Horses in Russia, 32. Anthrax in Portugal, 32.
First Appearance of Rabies in Mauritius, 33. Supposed Miliary Fever in
Picardy, 33. Cattle Plague on the Rhine, 34. Carbuncular Anthrax in

VUl

Contents.

Hungary, 34. Sheep-pox in Italy, 36. Influenza among Horses
Switzerland and France, 36. Disease among People and Reindeer
Siberia, 37. Cattle Plague universal on the Continent (Descriptions
of), 38. ^

in

eer in

CHAPTER II.

PERIOD FROM A.D. 1815 TO A.D, 1830.

Glanders and Farcy in England, 55. Rabies in Norway and Austria 55
Contagious F oot-rot of Sheep introduced into Germany, 55. Contagious
Pleuro-pneumonia in Italy, and Anthrax among Cattle and Pigeons 56
Panzootic Dysentery in France, 56. Disease among Fish in the Baltic' 57'
Mortality among Sheep in Scotland, 57. Rot in Sheep in France and
Germany, 57. Cattle Plague and Animal Diseases in Ceylon, 58. Sheep-
rot in Scotland, 63. Mortality among Horses in France and Piedmont, 63.
Tail-paralysis in Wurtemberg, 64. Epizootic Ekzema in Austria and
France, 64. Cholera in Mankind in India, and Coincident Disease in
Animals, 65. Bilious Fever among Horses in Germany, 68. Anthrax in
Brandenburg, and Gangrenous Sore Throat in Italy, 69. Influenza among
Horses in England, 72. Distemper among Dogs at Lyons, 72. Fatal
Epizooty among Goats in Cashmere, 74. Rabies among Foxes in Germany,.
Switzerland, and Russia, 74. Rot in Sheep in France and Germany, and
Cattle Plague in Siberia, 79. Rabies in England and among Foxes in
Switzerland, 79. Swine Plague in France, 80. An Epizooty among Cats
in Cleve, 81. First Appearance of Distemper in Dogs in Siberia, 82.
Influenza among Horses in Saxony and Prussia, 86. Rabies in Holland, 87,
First Appearance of Contagious Pleuro-pneumonia in Ard^che, 87. In-
fluenza among Horses in England, 88. Rabies in Norway, Denmark,.
Russia, and Germany, 89. Disease among Reindeer in Lapland, 96.
Rot in England, 99, Rabies in Sweden, Russia, Norway, and England,
99. Epizooty among Cats in Dresden, 99. Epizootic Ekzema in Italy, 99.
Epizooty among Dogs in India, 100. Cattle Plague in Russia and
Europe, loi. Influenza among Horses in Europe, 102. Vulpine Rabies
in Germany, 120. Anthrax in Russia, Galicia, Switzerland, and France, 121.
Appearance of Contagious Pleuro-pneumonia in the Nord Department,
France, 123. Influenza on the Continent, 124. Glanders in England, 124.
Catarrhal Ophthalmia among Horses in France, 124. Yellow Fever in
Dogs in Germany, 125. Cholera among Dogs in India, 130. Epizootic
Ekzema in Germany, Switzerland, and France, 130. Glossanthrax in
Italy and Bohemia, 130. Contagious Pleuro-pneumonia in Paris and
various Districts in France, 136. Cattle Plague in Southern Russia,
Prussia, Saxony, Hungary, and Austria, 136. Influenza among Horses in
England and the Austrian States, 139. Contagious Pleuro-pneumonia in
Belgium, 140. Rot in Sheep and other Animals throughout Europe, and
in Egypt, 141. Epizooty among Ducks in France, 147. Difficult Par-
turition among Cows in Nassau, 147. Cattle Plague in Bessarabia,
Moldavia, and Hungary, 149.

Contents.

ix

CHAPTER III.

PERIOD FROM A.D. 1830 TO A.D. 1 83 5.

Cholera in Russia and Europe, 150. Supposed Cholera among Horses
in Edinburgh, 151. Epizooty among Horses in France, and at Stutt-
gart, 151. Supposed Cholera among Animals in Russia, Poland, and
Galicia, 162. Epizooty of Diabetes among Horses in France, 166. Sup-
posed Outbreak of Horse-pox in Berlin, 166. Mortality among Horses on
the Amazon, 168. Epidemic and Epizootic Influenza in Europe, 168.
Epizooty among Horses in the Punjab, 172. Ergotism in Saxony, 172.
Sheep-pox in Bavaria, 173. Cattle Plague and Cholera in Poland, 173.
Diseases in Animals in the Baltic Provinces, 175. Disease in Fish, 176.
Supposed Cholera in Horses and other Animals at Warsaw, and in
Austria and Prussia, 178. Epizooty among Fowls in France, 183. Diseases
in Saxony, Bohemia, and Germany, 183. Epizooty in Ceylon, 188. Death
of Rooks in Ireland, 189. Cholera in Europe, and Disease among
Animals, 189. Disease among Poultry in France, 189. Anthrax Fever in
France, 195. Disease among Animals in Central Europe, 195. Abortion
among Cattle in Germany, 197. Rabies in Saxony, 197. Disease among
Animals in Scotland and in England, 198. Glanders epizootic in Hol-
land, 203. Epizooty among Cats at Aleppo, 203. Epidemic and Epizootic
1 nfluenza in Europe, 203. Epizootic Diseases in Britain and Germany, 206.
Rinderpest in Galicia, and Influenza in Switzerland and Germany, 209.
Diseases in Saxony, 210. Fragilitas Ossium in Hesse, 212. Softening
of the Bones in Belgium, 215. Cholera in Animals, 218. Disease in
Sheep in Australia, 221. Disease among Cattle in Jamaica, 229. Rabies
at Barbadoes, 229. Cholera on the Continent, 229. Foot-and-Mouth
Disease in Switzerland, France, and Germany, 231. Cow-pox in Pom-
merania, 234. Diseases among Animals in Brandenburg and Saxony, 234.
Cow-pox in Saxony, 238. Anthrax on the Elbe, 238. Epizootic Disease
on the Russian Steppes, 241. Epizooty among Deer in England, 243.
Epizootic Influenza in England, 245. Canine Distemper in Saxony, 246.
Rot among Sheep in Ireland, 246. Epizooty among Swine in France, 246.
Disease among Animals in Germany, 247. Mortality among Geese, 248.
Epizootic Diseases in Austria, 252. Rabies among Foxes in Switzer-
land, 253. Bilious Fever in Dogs at Luxemburg, 254. Epizooty among
Fowls in Germanyand France,254. Epizooty among Horses at Naples,257.
Disease among Fish in Ireland, 259. Rabies in Northern Chili, 260. The
Geographical Distribution of Rabies, 261.

CHAPTER IV.

PERIOD FROM A.D. 1 836 TO A.D. 1840.

Invasion of Insects over Europe, 267. Epidemic and Epizootic In-
fluenza in Europe, 268. Epizootic Diseases among Animals in Germany,
284. Anthrax in Silesia, 287. Glanders in Germany, 288. Rinderpest in
Dalmatia, 288. Contagious Pleuro-pneumonia in Lombardy and Austria,

X

Contents.

288. Rinderpest m a Goat, 288. Diseases among Animals in Dresden

289. Rabies in Pans, 290. Mortality among Animals in India, 290'
Contagious Pleuro-pneumonia in Hasselt, 291. Disease in Pigs in Ireland
292. Mortality among Sheep in England, 292. Canine Distemper in
Bengal, 292. Epidemic and Epizootic Influenza in Bengal, 293. Con-
tagious Pleuro-pneumonia in Holland, 299. Cattle Plague in the Danu-
bian Principalities, Turkey, Austria, and Italy, 300. Ovine Contagious
Foot-rot imported into Potsdam, 303. Vulpine Rabies in Wurtemb erg,
303. Canine Rabies in Prussia and Austria, 303. Contagious Pleuro-
pneumonia in Lithuania, 304. Anthrax in Brandenburg, 304. Disease
in Pigs in France, 305. Fragility of the Bones in Cattle in Hesse, 305.
Disease among Fowls in France and Rome, 305. Mortality among Wild
Ducks, 305. Horse-sickness in South Africa, 306. Influenza in Sheep,
306. F atal Disease among Pigs in Ireland and England, 307. Panzooty
m South America, 307. Venereal Disease of Horses in Germany: its
History, 308. Epizootic Abortion in Lithuania and France, 318. Anthrax
in Holland, Poland, and Germany, 318. Influenza in Horses in Europe,
319. Rabies in Poultry at Konigsberg, 320. The Trembling Disease of
Sheep, 321. Destruction among Birds in Westmeath, 322. Epizodty
among Wild Bison in the Himalayas, 322. First Appearance of Foot-and-
Mouth Disease in England, 322. Foot-and-Mouth Disease in Russia,
323 ; in Pomerania, 324 ; in Brandenburg, 325 ; in Magdeburg, 328 ; in
Mecklenburg, 328 ; in Hungary and Galicia, 334 ; in Styria, 334 ; in
Bohemia, 334 ; in Prussian Saxony, 334 ; in Thuringia, 335 ; in Bavaria,
335 ; in Wuitemberg, 335 ; in Hesse, 335 ; in Switzerland, 336 ; in
F ranee, 340 ; in Italy, 353 ; in Naples, 354 ; in Great Britain and Ireland,
357. Contagious Pleuro-pneumonia in Lithuania, France, and Switzer-
land, 426. Disease among Poultry in England and Ireland, 436. Epizooty
among Pigs in Ireland, 436. Anthrax among Horses in France, 436.
Influenza among Horses in Germany, France, and England, 437.

CHAPTER V.

PERIOD FROM A.D. 1841 TO A.D. 1844.

Glanders in Algiers and India, 448. Rabies in Vienna, 448. Variola
among Hogs in. Germany, 448. Small-pox in Monkeys, 448. Variola in
various Species of Animals, 449. Disease due to Honeydew, 454. In-
fluenza among Horses in France, England, and Germany, 460. Rabies
m Vienna, 482 ; in Wurtemberg, 484 ; and in France, 484. First Ap-
pearance of Contagious Pleuro-pneumonia in Great Britain and Ireland,
486. Contagious Pleuro-pneumonia in Holland, Denmark, Switzerland,
and Austria, 498. Cattle Plague in Egypt, Asia Minor, Russia, and
Europe, 499.

Appendix.— Sheep-pox in England in Early Times, 514.
Chronological Synopsis of General Diseases, arranged

ACCORDING to SpECIES, FROM B.C. 2048 TO A.D. 1844, S16.

PREFACE.

This volume is a sequel to that published under the same
title in 1871, and which contained a chronological history of
animal plagues from B.C. 1490 to A.D. 1800. It continues the
history from A.D. 1800 to A.D. 1844, and is arranged on the
same plan, i.e. chronologically, the record for each year being
made to embrace the outbreaks of general disease among
animals of different species ; the nature and symptoms of the
various disorders ; their relation and dependence upon specific,
telluric, or other influences; and the coincident plagues of man-
kind— all given, when possible, or necessary, in the words of
those who described them. Many, if not nearly all of the notices
of these outbreaks of panzootic and epizootic diseases, have
never yet appeared in English medical literature, and a number
of them possess great interest : for example, the outbreaks of
influenza and the so-called venereal disease among horses;
anthrax, cattle-plague, and foot-and-mouth disease in cattle ;
the contagious foot disease of sheep ; the strange outbreak of
rabies among foxes on the Continent, and which continued for
so many years ; wide-spread mortalities among dogs and cats ;
and mysteriously-originating plagues among feral creatures.

The two volumes constitute a portion of a large undertaking,
commenced about twenty years ago, and designed to embrace
not only this history, but also to treat specially of those
scourges whose invasions have caused such serious losses
among our domesticated animals, and materially injured our
national prosperity.

The exigencies of a military career, however, not only

Preface.

greatly retarded the progress of the task, but altered the
manner of its accomplishment. So it happened, that when
the first volume was published in 1871, it was deemed advisable
to print a section— that on rabies and hydrophobia — which
appeared as a monograph in 1872, while the more special
division was issued in two volumes in 1875, under the title of
' Veterinary Sanitary Science and Police.' It is only at this
late period that I am enabled to offer the present continuation
of the historical division, as complete as possible in details
and references.

It is not my intention, at present, to carry on the history,
as after 1844 veterinary literature becomes largely developed,
and there is no difficulty in tracing the origin and extension
of the more remarkable, at least, of the animal plagues which
have visited the civilized world since that date.

The value of a history of contagious diseases of animals
cannot be doubted. Had the history of foot-and-mouth
disease and contagious pleuro-pneumonia of cattle on the
Continent of Europe been known in this country, as it is ex-
hibited in this volume, these terrible disorders would surely
never have been allowed to invade our shores in 1839 and
1 841, or when they did appear they must have been quickly
suppressed. The dreadful havoc made by them and other
preventible diseases has been largely, if not altogether, due to
ignorance of their history ; and it is owing to this ignorance
that England has been chiefly instrumental in disseminating
contagious pleuro-pneumonia over nearly the whole world.
. At the end of the volume I have appended a chronological
synopsis of the panzootic and epizootic diseases of animals,
arranged chiefly according to species, which may prove not
only interesting, as showing the relative frequency of these
disorders, but valuable also as an index.

GEORGE FLEMINGc

Cathcart Lodge, St. John's, London,
August, 1882.

HISTORY

OF

ANIMAL PLAGUES,

CHAPTER I.

PERIOD FROM A.D. 1800 TO A.D. 1815.

A.D. 1800. Epidemic malignant yellow fever prevailed in
America. In the autumn, Cadiz and Seville were ravaged by
a similar pestilence ; towards the middle of September the
deaths amounted to two hundred a day. 'At this period,'
writes Arejula.i ' the air, from its stagnant condition, became
so vitiated that its noxious qualities affected even the lower
order of animals : canary birds died with blood issuing from
their beaks ; and in none of the neighbouring towns which
were afterwards infected, did any sparrows appear during the
epidemy. We saw,' he continues, ' many of the domesticated
animals, when dying, present some of the symptoms witnessed
in people suffering from this malady. Dogs were affected by
the epidemy more than the other animals ; next, the cats
suffered severely, as well as the horses; then poultry and
canaries. Dogs and cats were also liable to haemorrhages, but
more so to the black vomit, and to dark-coloured foetid evacua-
tions. The horses which I saw die had that marble-like
coldness of the extremities, or the general convulsions so
remarkable in this disease.' Another writer, Fellows,2 states

^ Arejula. Succinta Exposicion de la Enfermedaden. Malaga, 1804.
''■ Ba-icome, A History of Epidemic Testilences. London, 185 1, p. 146.

I

2

History of Animal Plagues.

that all the physicians in Cadiz and Malaga who described
the disorder, and with whom he had conversed, confirmed to
him the above facts.

Epizootic ekzema appears to have been unusually prevalent
in many provinces of Germany.^

In the Venetian States, a deadly epizooty of malignant
anthrax {cancro nialignd) caused much loss ;^ and the same
malady was very severe in some districts of Upper Italy.^ In
Italy, generally, epizootic pneumonia {pidmonerd), with
dysentery {flusso dissenterico), was observed.^ This, in all
probability, was the Cattle Plague.

From the commencement of this century, it was commonly
remarked that the ' staggers' (tournis), caused by hydatids in the
brain,wasbecoming much more frequent amongsheep. Another
malady, new to comparative pathologists, and supposed to
have been introduced by Merino sheep from Spain, was the
hydro-rachitis (' trembling,' or ' louping-ill,' the ' maladie
tremblante ' of the P>ench, the ' traberkrankheit ' of the
Germans) of lambs. It .came as a severe, but for a long time
olDScure, scourge among the flocks.^ Until Tessier described
it in 1810, its pathology was unknown, and since that period
it has been thoroughly investigated by Girard, Stoerig, Roche-
Lubin, Just, Cauvet, and others. Though its appearance
coincided with the introduction of Merino sheep, Cauvet
asserts that it is very certain that nowadays it is witnessed
in flocks of pure-bred French sheep. Settegast has insisted
that one cause for it among the Merinos is consanginnity ; the
comparatively small number of these animals imported having
led to their being too much bred in-and-in.^

Glanders broke out among the horses in the troop and
transport ships during the expedition to Egypt, and while in
Quiberon Bay. Mr. Mogford^ attributed its production to

^Laubender. Seuchengeschichte der Landwirthschaftlichen Hausthiere. Mun-
chen, 181 1, vol. i. p. 261.

^Bottani. Delle Epizoozie del Veneto Dominio. Venezia, 1819, vol. iii. p. 215.

=» Ibid. Ibid.

^' RichtJiofcn. Die Traberkrankheit de Schafe. Breslau, 1827.

«Journal de V^terinaires du Midi, 1854. Annales de M6d. Veterinaire de
Bruxelles, 1863.

^ Mogford. The Veterinarian, vol. xiii. p.

Period from A.D. 1800 to A.D.

close confinement between decks during gales of wind, the
hatchways having been battened down.^ But as this very con-
tagious malady was prevalent in England at that period, and
particularly amongst the cavalry and artillery horses, it is
more likely that some of those sent on this expedition were in-
fected before embarkation.

A.D. i8or. Swarms of mice caused great destruction in
Germany, and Greece was invaded by locusts, which ate up
all the herbage, crops, and fruit. The epidemy of Egyptian
ophthalmia began in Europe. An epidemy broke out at
Roettingen, which Hecker thought resembled very closely the
English sweating sickness. The yellow fever still raged in
Spain. Gonzalez^ is positive as to the fact of a dog at Cadiz
having the black vomit, and dying lethargic and jaundiced.
He also attests to the phenomena of canaries having blood
issue from their bills, and the absence of sparrows over the
whole country at this time.

During the summer, which was very hot, anthrax broke
out among cattle in the department of Dordogne, France.^

The Cattle Plague, which had been imported into Poland
in 1799, and thence into Prussia, was cruelly devastating
that country, Brandenburg, Illyria, Switzerland, France, and
Saxony .4 This pest, carried about by the movement of troops
during the wars of Napoleon I., also decimated the cattle in
Hungary, the Venetian States, and the States of the Church.^^

In France, the flocks of the Haute-Pyr^nees were decimated
by variola ovina.

Humboldt, who was at this time travelling in Peru, alluding
to earthquakes, and the. fact so frequently observed of the
lower animals, particularly swine, being the first to perceive
their occurrence — whether owing to their being nearer the
ground than mankind, or their organs receiving the impression
of some gaseous emanations given off— mentions that, in the

^ The Veterinarian, vol. xiii. p. 655.

2 Gonzalez. Disertacion Medica sobre la Calentura que regno en Cadiz, 1801.

* Annales de I'Agriculturc Fran9ais, vol. xii. p. 69.

* Latihender. Op. cit. vol. ii. pp. i-m.

Botlani. Op. cit. vol. viii. p. 325. Metaxa. Dele Malattie Contagiose ed
Epizootiche. Roma, 1817, vol. i. p. 288.

I — 2

4

History of Animal Plagues.

inland country of Peru, at the termination of a violent earth-
quake, the herbs covering the savannahs acquired noxious
properties, an epizootic disorder broke out among the cattle,
and a great number of them appeared stupefied or suffocated
by the deleterious vapours exhaled from the ground.^

Carbuncular erysipelas (vulgo ' black-leg,' ' quarter-evil,' etc.)
appears to have been more than usually common in Ireland.
' It is so infectious, that if the diseased beast is suffered to
remain amongst the stock for many hours after it is seized, it
generally communicates the distemper toothers. If they even
smell the spot where the infected beast has died or where his
blood has been spilled, contagion will surely follow, and is as
surely fatal. Calves under two years old, highly bred or
highly fed, are most subject to it ; and although it seldom
originates in old beasts, yet they are liable to take it from
infected young cattle. Care should be taken to bury the
diseased quarter, which is quite black and reduced nearly to a
jelly, quite out of the reach of dogs, as, if rooted up, it might
be productive of incalculable mischief to the remaining stock 1'^

A great scarcity of pigs in Ireland, owing, it was reported,
to the two calamitous foregoing years.

Wirth states that glossanthrax prevailed extensively in
Switzerland.^

A.D, 1802. A snowy winter, and hot summer, with incessant
heavy rain and dense fogs in the autumn, especially in Central
Germany. A caterpillar, supposed to be the larva of the
Chareas Graminis, caused great damage to the sheep-farms
of Tweeddale ;* and Suabia was infested to an alarming degree
by multitudes of field-mice.'^ In November, a fatal epidemy
in mankind.

In Ireland ' horses had a disorder similar to the influenza,

1 Bw>ibol(it. Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of America. Bohn's Edition,
vol. i. p. 163. For striking instances of the premonitory evidence of earthquakes
afforded by animals, see Fitzroy. Voyages of the Adventure and Beagle, %'ol. ii.
pp. 402, 405. Ulloa. Relacion Hist. d. Viage a la America Meridional. Madrid,
1748. Tschudi. Travels in Peru, p. 165.

^ Thompson. Meath.

* Wirlh. Lehrbuch der Seuchen und Ansteckenden Krankheiten der Hausthiere.
Zurich, 1846, p. 363.
* Farmer's Magazine, vol. i. p. 124. ^ Faulkna-'s Journal. " Bascome. Op. cit.

Period from A.D. 1800 to A.D. 181

in the spring of 1802, attended with severe, hard cough,
laborious, difficult respiration, fever, and great prostration of
strength. It terminated favourably by a plentiful discharge
from the nostrils ; with some it terminated in farcy and heart-
strangles, so-called, and some it killed. '1 In the latter the
lungs and heart were found to be inflamed. Cattle also suf-
fered in that country. ' Calves were very differently reared then,
and many of them died in the attempt ; the bloody murrain
(carbuncular anthrax) prevailed much among horned cattle
this spring and summer, and many of them have died of it.'^

The Cattle Plague continued to destroy the herds in
Poland, Prussia, and Italy.

In the Bavarian Alps, anthrax appears to have been
frequent, according to Laubender. ' The disease raged solely
in the Alps, and only in such places as had marshy ground,
as in the valleys ; on the dry Alps it was not seen. Further,
on many of the Alps the diseased animals had no tumours or
boils {beiden oder geschwulste) ; upon others, however, all the
cattle, without exception, were attacked with these. Nearly
all the tumours were on the extremities. After rain the
disease was less prevalent ; but when the heat followed the
rain it became aggravated. At this time, also, a deer was
found dead in the wood ; it was opened, and the same morbid
condition of the spleen was observed as is found in the cattle
which die of this malady.' ^

In France, variola ovina was very destructive among the
flocks in Crease.

A.D. 1803. The winter was long and cold, with much snow.
On the nights of the 5th and 7th of March, red snow was
observed on the mountain Tolmezzo in Friuli. Red rain
and snow fell at the same time in Vienna, and passed over
Italy and Sicily, coming from the south-east, attended with
lightning, thunder, and hail. A cinnamon-coloured dust was
associated with this, which on examination was found to
contain eighteen species of polygastric animalculas, one of
which, the Synedra eniomon, is known only in South America.''

^ Mem. Medical Society of London, vol. vi. p. 576.

^ /''aulkncr's ]o\.\rm\. ''^Laubender. Op. cit. vol. ii. p. 11.

Ehrenberg. I'assat-Staub und Blutregen, pp. 107, 129.

6 History of Animal Plagues.

On the 26th April, a wonderful shower of meteoric stones
occurred at L'Aigle, in Normandy ; the largest weighed
171^ pounds.

Influenza appeared in mankind in England and France.
In this country it manifested itself in January, but it was
believed to have been observed at Whampoa, China, as early
as 1 800.^ Animals were affected before or during the
epidemy. ' Previous to the appearance of influenza, I under-
stood there was some contagious disease among the horses
About January a great number of cats in Shrews-
bury were seized with what is commonly called the " houst,"
swelled heads, defluxion from the nose and eyes, with
vomiting, sometimes purging, sometimes costiveness. Some
died and others were relieved by opening medicines. At the
time the human species became a prey to the influenza, the
dogs and horses were evidently affected ; many dogs were
killed as mad dogs, which were not hydrophobic.'^ A disease
among cats and cows was observed at Gosport, four or five
months before the outbreak of influenza at that place.^ ' I
have just learnt, and I have no doubt the information is per-
fectly correct, that several horses died very suddenly during
the time the late influenza was at the worst with us. That
during the close of the last year and the early months of this,
horses were everywhere unusually diseased, that very many
died (I knew a neighbouring farmer who lost three, and with
difficulty saved several others), and that such were the
apprehensions of the farmers for their horses at this time, it
was a practice with those who thought the distemper
infectious, to put large patches of tar upon the breasts of
them by way of preservation ; but many attributed, however,
these disorders to the horses having eaten insects, which for
many weeks were innumerable, and covered the fields in the
most extraordinary manner, wherever there was any length of
grass, and this, from the mildness of the season, was general
in almost every field. These were covered with a sort of
spider's web ; and wherever you stepped these insects flew

^ Glnge. Influenza, p. 124.

2 Mem. Medical Society of London, vol. vi. p. 426. ^ Ibid. p. 576.

Period from A.D. 1800 to A.D. 181 5,

off in vast numbers. I noticed them many times ; they were
a long-legged, indeed a sort of winged spider, I believe of the
class Diptera, named Oleracea. A respectable gentleman-
farmer, living near Modbury, on whose veracity I have the
most perfect reliance, assures me that toward the end of
March last and beginning of April, during the prevalence
of the influenza, many of his horses and those of his
neighbours were very much disordered ; the disease among
them was called the squinsy, and was marked with the
following symptoms : running at the nostrils, cough, sudden
weakness, and loss of flesh (these are his own words). None
died ; abscesses frequently formed and broke externally,
between the cheek-bones, about the root of the tongue, and
sometimes internally about the same situation. The same
intelligent person, Mr. Parsons, tells me that in November
and December last, dogs were generally affected with a
disease, termed the houst ; which, he observed, seems to
consist of a continual effort to vomit, and that froth and
slime were thrown up by these efforts in considerable
quantities : many of these animals were ill several weeks,
and many died. In the advanced period of this distemper
they were very subject to fits, as they call it, running here and
there, and into pools and ponds ; several ran off and have not
since been heard off ; they never attempted to bite, and there-
fore apprehensions which were at first entertained that they
were mad were soon removed.' ^ In the month of February,
two months before the appearance of influenza at Garstang,
Lancashire, ' a very fatal epidemic was predominant among
the swine ; in the town and neighbourhood whole herds
were swept off by it.'^ During the prevalence of the in-
fluenza at Droitwich, cattle were unhealthy, especially cows
and sheep, and a great many lambs died. Cats were also
affected, and many perished. ' A disease called the " black-
quarter " wac- more than usually prevalent this spring amongst
black cattle in the neighbourhood of Whitehaven, and was
always fatal. Horses also suffered a slight degree of catarrh.'''^

' Medical and Physical Journal, vol. x. p. 137.

-Mem. Medical Society of London, vol. vi. p. 379. ^ Ibid. p. 316. >

8

History of Animal Plagues.

In Dublin, ' dogs had sore eyes ;' in Cork, ' many horses,
during the prevalence of this disorder (influenza), were
attacked with ophthalmia and cough.' ^ Blaine asserts that
the distemper in cats was general throughout Europe, though
unfortunately he does not quote his authorities for the state-
ment. He says : ' Little similarity as there is between the
dog and cat, yet they partake of this disease (distemper) in
common between them ; and each is capable of giving or
receiving it from the other. This disease in cats puts on, now
and then, a perfectly epidemic form. In 1803, it ravaged
almost all Europe, and nearly one-half of the cats died of it.
It produces cough, sneezing, running from the nose and eyes,
with great wasting and weakness, and sometimes purging.' ^

In the department of the Rhone, France, ovine small-pox
caused much destruction among the sheep.

In southern France, anthrax destroyed many cattle, and
people were infected from diseased animals.^

The same malady was epizootic among cattle in Switzer-
land, and men also were affected with the disease by trans-
mission of the virus.*

In this year there was observed a strange and unaccount-
able epizooty of rabies among foxes in Europe, which, raging
to 1830 or 1833, was not quite extinct even in 1838. The
following is an account of it as it manifested itself in the
Canton de Vaud, Switzerland :

'In the months of November and December, 1803-4, this
disease showed itself in many neighbourhoods in the districts
of Aubonne, Cossonay, Orbe, and Yverdon, at the foot of the
Jura Alps, and about twenty foxes which were attacked by,
or suspected of it, were killed. Foxes, when suffering from
this malady, entered the towns, villages, and houses, in broad
daylight, and pursued people and animals, and even dogs.
They bit a man, dogs, and swine very severely ; a circum-
stance not generally noticed in rabies {ivuthkrankheit\

^ Mem. Medical Society of London, p. 297.
' Dclaberc Blaine, Canine Patholog}-, p. 1 76.
^ Gohicr. Mem. sur I'Epizootie de Trannois. Lyons, 1804.
Verhandlung d. Schweiz. Arztlich. gesellsch. 1830.

Period from A.D. [800 to A.D. 181 5.

Several dead foxes wei-e examined ; in one, the liver and the
abdominal glands were found softened and putrefied-looking ;
in another, the same appearances, but to a less degree ; in a
third, nothing abnormal was noticed. In many foxes which
were opened by order of the Sanitary Commission, there was
discovered much inflammation of the larynx, the contiguous
portions of the trachea, and of the oesophagus. Nearly all
were very emaciated, and had no traces of food in the stomach
or alimentary canal. The abdominal viscera were healthy.
It was remarked that there was the greatest similarity
between this disease and that which the veterinary surgeons
termed "wuth," which is a kind of malignant quinsy. To
keep the malady within bounds, a general hunt was instituted
against the foxes, and from the month of February, 1804,
nothing more was heard of this dangerous affection, either
sporadically or epizootically, in the Canton of Waadt.'^

During the revolt of the Kandyans in Ceylon, the animals
employed by the troops in their subjection, as well as the
troops themselves, suffered much from the bites of leeches,
which caused * large, ill-conditioned ulcers.' It was also noted
that where leeches abound .sheep do not thrive.^

It has been regarded as a remarkable circumstance, that,
for the first time, we have mention made in this year of
what was supposed to be the spontaneous origin of rabies
in Peru. Dr. Smith ^ writes : 'This disease appears to have
been unknown on the shores of Peru, until, in the exces-
sively hot summers of 1803, 1804, when, as Dr. Unanue*
informs us, it broke out in the scorched valleys along the
northern part of the coast, when it proceeded, with an epi-
demic course, southward to Ica and Arequipa. It is stated in
the work just referred to, that of forty-two individuals bitten
by rabid dogs, and who died in the town of Ica, the greater
number died in from twelve to ninety days after being bitten.
It appears that the foresight of the Viceroy, Abascal, had

^y. R. Kochlin. Ueber die in unsern zeiten untcr den Fuchsen herrschende
Krankheit. Zurich, 1835.

"^Marshall. Historical Sketch of Ceylon. London, 1846, p. 15.

''■A. Smith. Diseases in Peru. Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, 1S44.

^ Obscrvaciones sobre el Clinia de Lima. Second edition, p. 67.

lO

History of Animal Plagties.

saved Lima from the ravages of this furious epidemic, for he
ordered a general slaughter of dogs in the city. During my
residence in Peru, I never witnessed a single case of declared
hydrophobia, although, on several occasions, people were bitten
when no bad consequences were known to result, the bite not
being venomous.' The same writer, in another work, quotes
the history of the outbreak as given by the Peruvian physician,
Unanue, which is particularly interesting. This goes on to
say : ' Neither in Peru, nor in the neighbouring sections of
South America, were dogs ever known to be attacked by
hydrophobia prior to 1803 ; but about this time the malady
broke out, during the heat of the summer, in the valleys of
the northern coast, from whence it extended southward along
the maritime plains ; having arrived at the city of Arequipa
in the spring of 1807, while in Lima it was observed between
the summer and autumn of the same year. Having collected
all the necessary data for disclosing the origin of this disorder,
and consulted in writing the physicians and well-informed
persons who had witnessed its symptoms, I have already
learned, i. That this disease arose spontaneously from the
increased atmospherical temperature of the years 1803 and
1804. It commenced on the northern coast, commonly called
Costa Abajo, where the air was so heated that Reaumur's
thermometer indicated the temperature of 30° in some of the
valleys ; the calms were extreme, and without the lightest
breeze that could ripple the surface of the ocean ; animals
rushed into lakes and pools of still water to relieve themselves
from the sensation of excessive heat, so that the season de-
scribed by Horace was fully realised :

' Jano Procyon furit,
Et Stella vesani Leonis :

caietque

Ripa taciturna ventis.'

2. This disorder affected every sort of quadruped without dis-
tmction ; and such was the degree of frenzy excited by it,
that some animals in their fury bit and tore themselves to
pieces ; and, in situations where the heat was extreme, several
men fell ill with all the symptoms of hydrophobia without

Period from A.D. 1800 to A.D. 18 15. 11

having been bit. 3. The malady attached itself more especially
to dosfs, and some of them suffered so mild an attack that
their bite was not mortal ; but the greater number were
severely affected, and propagated the infection to their kind,
to other quadrupeds, and to man. The mean and niggardly
overseer of a sugar estate had distributed among his negroes,
though advised not to do so, some head of cattle that died
rabid ; which he did under the impression that they were
tocado, or touched with that disease, which in hot weather
usually affects cattle from the mountains : and the result was
that of the poor negroes who had partaken of this meat many
died with symptoms of hydrophobia. 4. In the towns of Ica
and Arequipa the number of individuals who died, after
having been bit by mad dogs, was greater, and their cases less
equivocal than the preceding. In Ica a single rabid bitch bit
fourteen persons in one night, of whom eight were in one
house, some sleeping al fresco, or in the open air, others were
variously occupied, and the remaining six were among those
who, on hearing the alarm, ran to assist in killing the bitch.
The surgeon of the place, Don Mariano Estrada, wished to
persuade them to submit to be cured, but they rejected his
proposal, saying the will of God should be done : and all died
with the exception of two men, the one twenty-eight and the
other fifty years of age, who agreed to be placed under medical
treatment. The physician cured them, happily, on the safest
plan, which consists in applying a blister on the part bitten,
with a view to promote suppuration from it, and in exciting
salivation by means of mercurial inunction. In the city of
Arequipa it was much disputed whether or not the malady
was a legitimate hydrophobia, and very learned papers,/;'!?
and con, were written by the doctors Rosas and Salvani. In
this paper-war much time was lost that should have been
taken advantage of for resisting the progress of the malady.
True it is, that in many cases those disorders, which by
frightened imaginations were represented to be real examples
of hydrophobia, were, in point of fact, no such thing ; and the
alarming misconceptions thus induced were soothed down
and removed by persuasive means. Hence, this circumstance,

T2

History of Animal Plagues.

which was the natural consequence of the general panic
existing at the time, led Professor Salvani to think that it was
precisely the same in all instances, until at length a succession
of melancholy results declared the real nature of the disease.
Immediately upon being made acquainted that the epidemic
hydrophobia approached the capital, the Viceroy of Peru,
Abascal, ordered all the dpgs in the place to be killed,^ by
means of which he liberated Lima from the impending scourge,
for though a very few hydrophobic patients entered, in this
period, into the hospitals, they were not inhabitants of the
city, but some individuals who had come in from the neigh-
bouring farms and valleys. 5. When this calamitous epi-
demic commenced in the valleys of Costa Abajo, Don Jose
Figueroa, Bachelor of Arts, wrote me to say, " That the dogs
went about with their tails between their feet ; they slavered
much ; hid themselves from human sight ; howled lustily ;
and presently they fell down and moved no more : as reme-
dies in these cases, cutting off the ears and giving oil were
tried in vain. The cats, with their hair on end, ran about the
house-tops. Horses and asses got enraged the one against
the other ; they threw themselves on the ground, rolled about,
and instantly on being dead they swelled and putrefied.
Black cattle — roaring and lowing— bounded about, fought
with each other, in the contest even broke their horns, and
they died quickly." 6. Professor Estrada confidently stated
that of forty-two individuals who died in the city of Ica, after
having been bit by mad dogs, the greater number were cut off

^ The slaughter thus commenced has passed into a custom of annually destroy-
ing these confiding companions of man, when the howl or piteous death-cry of the
poor animals rings upon the ear, on fine summer mornings, as the watermen are
employed in knocking them down with their iron-pointed sticks in all the streets,
and even at the very doors or gates where the persecuted creatures seek protection
in vam. To see them dragged along the streets, bound together by the water-
man s lazo, leaving a bloody track behind them, and then heaped up in the public
squares, where they are often allowed to lie for days, is truly one of the most
painful and disgusting sights which Lima presents, and to which the bloody
scenes of the bull-ring are comparatively nothing. — Translator.

The same dismal proceeding used to be enacted at Kertch, according to Prince
Demidoir. — 7;-^w/,f i„ the Crimea.

According to Tennant, Ceylon witnesses a similar brutal mode of dog-extenui-
nation.

Period from A.D. 1800 to A.D. 1815.

from twelve to ninety days after the accident. The symptoms
which followed the engraftment of the poison disclosed them-
selves in the form of convulsions, oppression at the breast,
sighs, sadness, laborious breathing, horror at liquids and
shining objects, fury, vomiting of dark bilious matter, and an
incessant urgent call on the part of the patients that the
assistants should depart from them, because they felt them-
selves impelled to attack, bite, and tear them to pieces : none
in this state survived beyond the term of five days. Since
the year 1808, this terrible epidemic has been disappearing.
From time to time, however, a dog may be seen running
violently hither and thither, and biting all whom he may
happen to meet, in the same way as is done by the really mad
dog. But, in the instances in which no bad results arise from
the bite, they may be considered of the same character with
the disorder observed by Mr. Colombier, which attacks dogs,
renders them furious, and excites them to bite, but has, never-
theless, nothing at all of hydrophobia in it. Stilly however,
the safest way is to kill the dogs thus affected, and to implore
the Father of Mercies that these regions may never again
experience so severe a visitation.'

While referring in this work to the outbreak of rabies in
various kinds of animals, it may not be out of place to allude

here to the strange European disease — the ' Plica Polonica '

which more particularly manifests itself by attacking the
human hair, but also affects the lower animals — horses, cows,
sheep, dogs, wolves, foxes, and other creatures being liable to
its peculiar effects. The malady is known from the source of
the Vistula to the Carpathian Mountains, but prevails more
especially in Lithuania, White and Red Russia, and in Tartary.
Those animals which have very long hair are most susceptible
to its visitations ; fowls are exempt. In the Milanese, the
tails of some horses show signs of the malady, which in this
form is designated foletto. According to Lafontaine, a great
number of dogs are destroyed, because the ' plica ' induces in
them nearly all the symptoms of rabies. 'Indeed,' he re-
marks, ' they drag their tails between their legs, they foam at
the mouth, they scarcely ever bark, and they bite at every-

Histoij of Animal Plagues.

body, even their masters, whom they appear to forget ; they
lose their appetite, go about as if they were blind, and run
against the walls ; but they drink much more at this stage of
the disease than they are wont to do in health, and their bite
is not followed by hydrophobia. The same symptoms are
witnessed in foxes, wolves, sheep, etc. Horses, when affected,
become emaciated, feeble, lose all their spirit, scarcely eat
anything, but drink a great deal ; the ' plica ' with them only
attacks the mane and tail' ^

A.D. 1804. The year was exceedingly unfavourable for the
crops, and wheat was greatly damaged by rust.

During the winter of 1804-5 there was an epizooty among
horses in Holland, Germany, and the North of France. It
was designated a ' comatose fever,' and also encephalitis ; but
from the description it appears to have been only a particular
form of the protean malady, influenza.^

In April, anthrax was epizootic in the March of Branden-
burg, on the banks of the Spree. By the Council of
Health it was believed to be due to the deleterious influence
of the Columbacz flies {RJiagio CohLinbacensis)?

Lafontaine. Traite de la Plique Polonaise. Paris, 1808.
- Collaine. Sur le Fievre Adynamique Comateuse qui a ete Epizootique dans
la Holland.

Laiibcnder. Op. cit. vol. ii. pp. 169, 173. In the former volume on 'Animal
Plagues' (year 1790, p. 53")) mention was made of a malady resembling, in its local
manifestations, a particular form of anthrax, and which was ascribed to the attacks of
this insect. We have only now to remark that the creature is known as the ' fly of
Columbacz;' it belongs to the family of CiiKcidtc, and is identified by entomologists
as the Simulia maculata ; it frequently causes the death of the animals it attacks.
It is most frequently met with in the southern parts of Hungary and in Servia, and
on several occasions it has been seen in Austria, Moravia, and in the regions
adjoining Hungary, along the March, after more or less extensive inundations.
It makes its appearance during the first half of April and the commencement of
May, and sometimes in such numbers that seen from a distance the swarms look
like clouds, and it is scarcely possible to respire without swallowing them. Tliey
prefer to attack the eyes, nostrils, mouth, anus, and the genital organs of horses,
cattle, and sheep, introducing themselves in great numbers by the natural orifices.
Every sting causes the development of a hard and painful tumour, which does not
disappear until after from eight to ten days. If, as not unusually happens, herds
are attacked by a swarm of the.se insects, very many sometimes die, in consequence
of the extensive and painful lesions, as well as of the inflammation of the pharynx
and larynx, and the obliteration of the bronchi from the entrance of the creatures.
They derive their popular name from the supposition that they were bred in the

Period from A,D. 1800 to A.D. 181 5. 15

In this and the following year, ovine variola was general
in Saxony.^ At the end of the summer, in Haute-Garonne
and the environs of Saint-Gaudens, in France, an epizooty of
inflammation of the vascular membrane of the horns of cattle
{catarrhe des comes) appeared.

At Crema, in Italy, a mad wolf descended from the moun-
tains in November, and bit thirteen people, nine of whom
died of hydrophobia.-

In Wurtemberg and Baden, the rabies in foxes was attract-
ing much attention, and the Government of the former
country had, with much care and solicitude, investigated and
published its history. It is as follows: 'Since 1804, there
has appeared on the northern side of Lake Constance and the
neighbourhood, a disease which had not been previously seen
among foxes. Contrary to their usual shy disposition, they
followed men, horses, cattle, sheep, goats, dogs, cats, and
other animals, and sought to injure them, and fell at last into
an exhausted and very much emaciated condition. At the
end of the year 1808, this disease appeared in the then king-
dom of Wurtemberg, and in Hornberg, in the Grand Duchy
of Baden. Not only cattle, but also dogs were injured by
them, and died from rabies. The same accident occurred
to an ox in Oberamt Blaubeuren, and to four head of cattle of
various ages at Shuppach, Oberamt Oehringen, in the same
year. Since then a great number of cases, more or less
frequently, have happened, where diseased foxes have infected
with rabies, by their bites, cattle, sheep, dogs, and cats, and
this not only in the greater part of Suabia, but also in the
middle Rhine, and in several- cantons of Switzerland. It was
especially frequent at the end of 1827, and since then in the
upper portion of Wurtemberg. Many men were bitten by
these diseased foxes, but usually, by being at once attended
to, they escaped danger. Not a few animals which were

caves of the limestone mountains in the vicinity of the old castle of Columbacz ;
but the fact is, as remarked by Roll, that they, like the other Culicidcc, undergo
their various transformations in the water, and they only take refuge in the caves
during unfavourable weather, when they have been completely developed.

1 Tolberg. Erfahr. ueber die Pocken d. Schafe. Magdeburg, 1805.

^Brcra. Prospetto del Clinica Med. di Padova. 1819,1820.

History of Animal Plagzces.

bitten, and left without treatment, yet remained unaffected.
These exemptions lead those connected with hunting pur-
suits into the fallacious reasoning that the malady was not
contagious ; but these cases of insusceptibility have been
observed when animals were wounded by others violently
rabid. The differences in the results depend upon the
character of the wound inflicted, the susceptibility for the
reception of the poison, and the poison itself. Apart from
the painful position in which the people were placed who
were bitten by these rabid foxes, it is partially proven, and in
part highly probable, that three persons became the victims
of hydrophobia. At the end of April, in 1815, a cat at
Seehaushof, Leonberger Oberamt, had a scuffle with a fox
that was attacking the poultry. On the 21st of May follow-
ing, a servant-maid, who had hitherto been remarkable for
her hale and hearty appearance, observed the cat to have
staring and fixed eyes, whereupon it was killed the next
morning. The servant was injured by this animal, and
medical treatment was delayed for four-and-twenty hours.
On the 25th of August, after feeling slightly indisposed, the
symptoms of hydrophobia appeared, of which affection she
shortly died. In March, 1825, two sick foxes came to the
stable of Captain Weber, in Rettstall, in the Canton of Glarus,
where there were a bitch and two pups. The mother had a
struggle with these foxes, and was attacked with rabies early
in April, and bit her master, her own pups, and several other
dogs. Weber was opposed to medical treatment, and on the
9th of August the first symptoms of the terrible disease
manifested themselves in him ; these were followed in a few
days by the active and full development of the malady, and
m a short time he died. According to a communication from
the Duchy of Baden, rabies showed itself in a child which had
been bitten by a strange cat in the fields, notwithstanding all
precautions and medical treatment. This cat had in all
probability been bitten by a diseased fox. As rabies is
transmitted to man from foxes through the medium of dogs

and cats, so is it also conveyed to cattle The direct

transmission of the disease to dogs has frequently been

Period from A.D. 1800 to A.D. 181 5. 17

observed, especially since last year. In Seissen, a sporting
hound belonging to the forester of that place, sickened after
an encounter with a fox, and bit two men and a dog. The
men, who were carefully treated, escaped, but the dog died
from rabies. According to a report made to an official at
Blaubeuren, the hound of an assistant forester at that place
had a scuffle with a fox about the end of December in 1827,
and four weeks after it was attacked with rabies and died. In
Waldsee a fox and a dog fought, and the former was killed ; on
examination of its body not the slightest lesion was apparent,
either externally or internally ; but the dog after five weeks
became mad and died. In the neighbourhood of Geisslingen,
a fox attacked the miller's dog. This animal remained healthy
for six weeks, sickened in the seventh, and soon thereafter
died raging mad. Since the general appearance of this fox
disease, it has been suspected that the semi-domesticated cats
which frequent the fields have suffered much from this malady.
As the infection has not always had the same results, and also
from the absence of the usual symptoms of rabies in the sick
foxes, the erroneous impression has gained ground that it is
an entirely distinct disease, and which has been called the
beiss-sticht (desire to bite). At the commencement of the
disease there is, beyond the endeavour to injure men and the
larger animals, nothing whatever to be seen, either externally or
internally, inconsistent with a perfectly healthy state, although
such creatures have the power of communicating the malady.
Later, without being able to name a certain period, they appear
to have rough coats, and are much emaciated. On opening their
bowels, there were found along with the ordinary contents
substances altogether foreign — such as stones, sand, straw, etc.
When the disease does not kill them so quickly, they become
greatly debilitated, yet retain the desire to bite, and succumb
with slight convulsions. In various stages of the disease, the
mucous membrane of the air-passages and digestive organs is
inflamed and congested, but never shows any signs of sup-
puration ; the spleen is enlarged ; the liver altered in colour ;
the gall-bladder varies in size in almost every animal ; the
hair comes easily from the .skin, which is here and there

i8

History of Animal Plagues.

covered with a peculiar kind of eruption, quite distinct from
the scabies of foxes.'^

A.D. 1805. The year was generally cold, but especially in
the spring. During this and the preceding year, catarrhal
affections were rife in mankind. An epizooty of influenza
appeared among horses in Germany, which was particularly
remarkable for the regular manner in which it travelled from
one place to another. It was often complicated by pleuritis and
pneumonia, and resembled the influenza of man in being of a
benignant type in some regions, and malignant in others. Its
course, as it extended from north to south, was rapid. In the
winter it was present at Copenhagen ; at the commencement of
the spring it was observed at Hamburg and in Holstein ;^ in
the beginning of March it was in Hanover,^ at Osnabruck,* and
at Munster, near Cologne f on the i8th of March it manifested
itself at Aschersleben, in Madgeburg ; in April it was on the
banks of the Lahn, in Nassau, and in Upper Hesse in May it
appeared at Dresden and Berlin and in the South of Germany
the malady was noticed in Franconia, in Wurtemberg, and in
Oberpfalz.s In the latter countries it was designated the
'Hanoverian Horse-Plague' {Hannoversche pferdseuche), and in
other places the 'Spanish head-disease of horses' {Spanischen
Kopfkrankheit d. pferde). As before stated, this influenza did
not in all places assume the same character, nor were its
complications everywhere alike. To its special and most
marked characteristic it owed the different denominations it
received. In the Duchy of Holstein it appeared as an
adynamic fever, and the accompanying catarrh of the mucous
membranes was complicated with pleuro-pneumonia, hepatitis,

^ Sammlung d. d. Veterinarpolizei in Wiirtumb. betrelTenden Veroidnungen,
p; 218.

2 Fiedlei: 3 Havemanii and Sander. * Giesker.

^ Fehr. Ausfiirliche Beschreibung d. Brustseuche d. Pferde. Gottingeii, 1806.

'^Franque. Thierseuchen, p. 25. Pilger. Darstellung des Verlaufs d.
Sogenannten Spanischen Hopfkrankheit d. Pferde. Hanau, 1805. Kopp.
Topographic von Hanau, p. 166.

7 Rmtcr. Nminann. Ueber d. Heerschende Pferdeseuche, in den Berlinischen
Nachricht. d. Staats-iind Gelehrtensacheh. 1805.

^ Plank. Veterinartopographie von Baiern, p. 138.

Period from A.D. 1800 to A.D. 181 5.

and oedematous swellings containing blood-coloured serum •
a sanguineous and purulent discharge also escaped from the
eyes and nose. After death the lungs were found gorged
with blood ; they were also sometimes hepatized, and con-
tained vomicae filled with pus; at other times there were
adhesions of the pleurae, with intra-thoracic effusions. The
liver and spleen were, according to Viborg, in the same con-
dition as the lungs. The mucous membrane of the intestines
was marked by brown spots ; and from this peculiar appear-
ance, the veterinary professor at Copenhagen defined the
disease as a complicated putrid fever. In Austria, which it
also visited, it offered somewhat the same characters, and was
named by Wollstein (Director of the Veterinary School at
Vienna) a malignant putrid fever, complicated with inflam-
mation of the lungs and liver. The malady was also termed
a nervous fever, and an acute typhoid catarrhal fever. It was
less severe in Hesse, where Pilger named it a benign nervous
fever. At Berlin it was very mild in its attacks ; and the
Director of the Veterinary School there reports, that out of
four hundred horses admitted into that institution not one
died, and that the symptoms were those of bronchial catarrh,
attended by a slight fever. Nevertheless, he also styled it a
nervous fever. Neumann was the only one who perceived the
relation of this epizooty in horses to epidemic catarrh in man,
and consequently thought it should be distinguished by the
same general appellation ; so that from this period, according
to some writers, dates the introduction of the term ' influenza '
into veterinary nosology.

In England, ' distemper ' in the dog must have assumed an
epizootic and a severe form, for Blaine,^ speaking of this
malady, observes : ' When it shows itself as an epidemic, its
versatility of character in different seasons is often remark-
able. In the summer of 1805, many of the distempered sub-
jects were attacked with a peculiar and painful spasmodic
colic, which neither constipated nor relaxed the bowels, but,
after continuing acute two or three days, usually terminated
fatally.'

'^Blaine. Op. cit. fifth edition, p. 51.

20

History of Animal Plagties.

In November, cattle plague, or a malady believed to be
that pest, broke out in the village of Stretton, in Warwick-
shire, and necessitated the enforcement of severe sanitary
measures.

In Italy there was an epizooty among pigs in the district
of Panaro.i In the department of the Seine-et-Marne, France,
much loss was sustained through the presence of small-pox
among the sheep.

In this year the ' Spanish foot-rot,' a contagious disease of
sheep, mentioned for 1791^ appeared for the first time in
Switzerland, Piedmont, and some other countries.^

Dr. Rommer had the opportunity of observing an epizooty
of 'rot,' accompanied by flukes in the liver, amongst the
ruminant animals of Glatthale, Canton Zurich, in this and
the next year.*

A.D. 1806. In England, rabies in the dog was unusually
frequent. Blaine remarks: 'In 1806 rabies among dogs
became very common in England, and abounded in the
vicinity of London. In the two succeeding years it also con-
tinued to rage ; after which, for several subsequent years, it
was less prevalent ; but it never became apparently extinct
or rare as before.'^

In the month of February, rabies in foxes began in the
country around Bodensee and in the Duchy of Baden ; and
Griiter^ of Weingarten describes it. It appears that as yet its
transmissibility had not been fully established, though all the
foxes were dying. ' From what has been said, it is clear that
the disease resembling madness which has been raging among
the foxes is not communicable to other animals by their bite,
and that, consequently, it is not hydrophobia. Whatever it
has been, and where it has come from, I leave others to
judge ; but it seems to me important, with regard to the
natural history of the fox, and the interest taken in the sub-
ject by sportsmen, to make this communication. Up to the

^Misky. Descr. della Malattie Serp. su i Majali nel Dipartim. del Panaro.
Modena, 1805. 2 ggg Vol. I. of this work, p. 532.

^ Hcusinger. Op. cit. p. 123. ■* Wirth. Op. cit. p. 123.

Op. cit. fifth edition, p. 99. * Journal fur das Forst, 1807.

Period from A.D. 1800 to A.D. 18 15. 21

commencement of the month of March, 1807, a mad fox had
been occasionally seen ; since that time we hear nothing of
these animals — no doubt owing to all the foxes in the neigh-
bourhood having been destroyed by the disease. In those
districts in which, in other years, the huntsman knew of ten
or more litters of young foxes, there is now not a single fox
to be seen ; neither do we find any traces of old foxes ; so
that it may be taken for granted that in a district of about ten
square miles all have perished.'

A.D. 1807. The spring was cold and damp,^ but the summer
very hot. Anthracoid diseases were exceedingly prevalent
in every part of Europe. In Bavaria a severe outbreak of
anthrax is reported : ' Although the anthrax {inilzseuche —
splenic apoplexy) has appeared since 1807, it has never
attained the virulence, nor spread so widely, as in that year.
. ... It was severe and extensive in the district of Lands-
berg, where it began on the 17th June, and by the 24th of
that month it had already invaded more than twenty places.
It lasted 115 days, and was most fatal to horses, though
cattle suffered considerably. Swine and sheep were also
attacked, and in the woods were found stags, roes, hares,
foxes, and badgers which had evidently died from the disease.
. . . . The malady was also particularly dangerous to man-
kind, for of thirty people who were infected fifteen died.' The
writer of this notice — Schwab — believed, nevertheless, that the
disease was not contagious, and adds : ' The chief reason for
supposing the affection to be contagious is the presence of the
so-called "malignant ^\x'i\^x\Q" ox^'hld^zV^^ocV." {scJnvarze blatter),
which can be transmitted to mankind by inoculation with the
virus. But this evil result arises, even when it terminates
fatally, not as in the anthrax, but as in those other diseases
which are communicated by the introduction of animal
poisons. Such a poison is present in the blood and serum in
this malady, and in some particular fluids ; but it is not a
pure contagium, or as some people prefer to term it, a germ
disease {krankheitssaiue).'^

^Schwab. Beitrag. zur Theor. u. Pract., Veterinar-Wissenschaft. Munchen,
1832.

22

History of Animal Plagties.

This malady was also present during the summer in the
Tyrol/ in Prussia, Nassau, Sossenheim, Weilbach, Konigstein,
Idstein, Usingen, and at Hamburg, in August and September ;2
also in Austria and Hungary,^

In many villages in Friuli, but chiefly in the vicinity of
Portogruaro and Latisana, there appeared a disease among
cattle which was commonly named the ' piscia sangue '
(asthenic haematuria?). It began in July and terminated in
August.*

A mad wolf appeared in the department of Isere, in
France.^ In Ireland, canine rabies was prevalent in the
spring." Catarrhal fever, influenza, or, as it was designated,
brain-typhus (^gehirnty pirns), was epizootic in East Prussia.
It has been described by Ammon, and appears to have shown
itself first among the highly-fed, well-bred horses on the
domains situated near the high-roads.''' In 1807 and 1808,
glanders was epizootic in France. Wirth writes : ' In the
latter year (1808) it was most destructive in and around
Boulogne, and was believed to owe its appearance there to a
knavish horse-dealer, who brought about twenty diseased
horses to be sold in that town. These were purchased by
various individuals dwelling in different places ; and in this
way the healthy horses became infected.'^

In the departments of Aube and Gers, France, the sheep-
flocks were nearly exterminated by small-pox.

In 1806-7, during a fatal epidemy in Ceylon, elephants,
wild-boars, deer, and other animals, died in immense numbers.^
The malady was in all likelihood of an anthracoid nature,
the disease in mankind being due to malarious influences.
It has been repeatedly observed in other parts of the world,
that the epidemic intermittent fever of man often coincides
with the outbreak of anthrax in the lower animals. (See also
the year 18 16.)

^ Justiz und Polizey Fama, 1807.

' Franque. Op. cit. » Waldinger. Thcrap. d. Fieberh. Krankheit. vol. i. p. 2i.
* Bottani. Op. cit. vol. viii. p. 331.

» Pierqtiin. De la Folic des Animaux, vol. ii. p. 83. <^^Faulkne)'s Journal.
^ Wirtk. Op. cit. p. 419. 8 Ibid. p. 419.

" Marshall. Medical Topography of Ceylon, p. 16.

Period from A.D. 1800 to A.D. 1815. 23

During the operations of war on the continent between the
years 1805 and 1809, the Cattle Plague ravaged Austria and
Prussia. This year it appeared in the principaUty of Dantzic,
the events of war bringing Russian armies with their droves
of Steppe cattle into that locality. Wherever the Russian or
Austrian troops penetrated, there this pestilence manifested
itself, and by these movements Prussia, the whole of Central
Germany, and the German States in the south, suffered fear-
fully even until i8i4.-'^ 'Whilst the operations of war were in
a great measure confined to the west, the plague returned to
the Russian Steppes ; and in 1806, when the Cossacks of the
Don, in obedience to an urgent appeal of Alexander,
mustered on the Vistula, the malady spread from the desert-
lands into the agricultural districts of Lithuania, Prussia,
Silesia, and Kurland. Napoleon's retreat after the battle of
Eylau (1807) favoured the spread of the Contagious Typhus,
and it prevailed in the above and adjoining provinces for two
entire years, almost exterminating the cattle. When the
Grand Army advanced to Moscow, and penetrated the heart
of Russia to meet with defeat and famine, all conditions
favoured the extension of disease and the spread of pesti-
lence.' ^

A.D. 1808. An epizooty appeared among the horses in
North America.^

A.D. 1809. Small-pox in the dog {variola canind) was ob-
served among those in the kennels of the Veterinary School
of Lyons. ' In 1809 there was observed an eruptive malady
among the dogs, to which they gave the name of small-pox.
It appeared to be propagated from dog to dog by contagion.
It was not difficult to cure, and quickly disappeared when no
other remedies were employed than mild aperients and
diaphoretics. A sheep was inoculated from one of these
dogs. There followed a slight eruption of pustules around
the place of inoculation, but nowhere else, nor was there the

1 Renault. Memoire sur le Typhus Contagieuse des Betes a Cornes.
'- Gamgee. The Cattle Plague. London, 1866, p. 310. See also Salis
Marschlins. Streifereyen in den Franzosichen Jura. 'Winterthur, 1805.
* Drayton, p. 97.

24 History of Animal Plagiies.

slightest fever.'i It may be observed that this is not the first
mention of this contagion in the dog, as M. Barriered
veterinary-surgeon of Chartres, in 1 791, accurately describes it
as he witnessed it on three occasions. He also remarks that in
the 'Ephemerides d'AlIemagne ' mention is made of a dog that
caught the infection from a person with whom it slept, and
who had small-pox ; and M. Huzard relates the following
fact apropos of the transmissibility of this disease to different
species: Some sheep died of the small-pox {clavelde), and
were left in a ditch. A pack of hounds passing began to
devour the carcases, and seventeen of them became ill. It
was at first thought they had ' distemper,' as they lost their
usual gaiety, grew weak, paralytic in the loins, and discharged
a viscid green matter from the nostrils ; but a plentiful crop
of inflammatory pustules soon appeared, and proved the
sickness to be malignant small-pox. Eleven of them died,
and the helper at the kennel was seized with illness, and had
his hands and face covered with pustules. Barriere also speaks
of a monkey that caught the small-pox from some children
with whom it was accustomed to play ; and likewise of
another who received the measles from a child on whose bed
it was accustomed to lie. It had all the symptoms of measles
except the cough ; and instead of that, there was a violent
heaving at the flanks. The same medicine was given to it as
to the children, and the eruption and its disappearance were
precisely like those of the human being. The monkey was
a very small one, and its pulse could scarcely be counted
because of its extreme rapidity ; but when, at length, it was
examined at the axillary artery, it was found to number about
400 per minute !

Leblanc, of Paris, has contributed an excellent monograph
on this canine variola, in which the symptoms, peculiarities,
and the treatment of the malady, together with his attempts
at inoculation, are lucidly described.-^ He arrived at the follow-
ing conclusions : i. That the disease is very frequent in the dog;

^ Hnrtrel d'Arbova/. Dictionn. de Med. Veterinaire.
-Barriere, Instructions Vetcrinaires, 1791.
"^Leblanc. Journal du Haras, 1841.

Period from A.D. 1800 to A.D. 18 15. 25

2. That it is contagious . in this creature, as it is in other
animals ; 3. That inoculation gives it a milder character, and
that this operation should undoubtedly be practised when
variola is prevailing among dogs in any district ; 4. That
very simple treatment is required when the disease runs its
regular course ; 5. It results from what has been stated, that
the vaccine disease cannot be communicated to the dog by
inoculation.

It is to be observed that Gohier and Numan experienced
great difficulty in successfully inoculating dogs with vaccine ;
perhaps owing, as Heusinger suggests, to their experimenting
on old animals. Sacco and Viborg, on the contrary, found
this inoculation comparatively easy.^ Some years ago, a
sheep died of small-pox at the Lyons Veterinary School. A
portion of the skin was attached for twenty-four hours to a
healthy sheep, and another part to a dog, likewise in apparent
good health. No effect was produced on the dog, but the
sheep died of confluent small-pox. The results of various
experiments in inoculation are singularly contradictory.
Many were carried out by MM. Campe and Voison ; others
were instituted at the Ecole de Medecine, of Paris, and else-
where, chiefly with a view to test the transmissibility of
human variola and that of sheep. The results of these
certainly demonstrated that no benefit was to be derived from
inoculating the animals with small-pox virus of the human
subject, or vice versa ; for sheep which had apparently been
successfully inoculated, nevertheless took their particular
variola by simple cohabitation with infected individuals.
Thus vaccination, believed to be a preservative from variola
in man, does not prove at all efficacious in that of sheep.
It has been imagined that the sheep small-pox might, if
judiciously inoculated, turn out to be a new preventive of
human small-pox ; and to this end, children of different ages
have been submitted to the test ; but the punctures were only
followed by a little superficial irritation, without any pustular
development or suppuration. After these experiments had
been repeated several times with the same results, these

^ Sammlung, Band iii, p. 169.

History of Animal Plagues.

children were successfully vaccinated. To make certain of
the lymph employed in these trials being of undoubted
quality, several sheep were inoculated at the same time with
the same virus, which promptly produced the usual effect on
them. Other experiments have been resorted to, and birds
of different species, neat cattle, horses, rabbits, dogs, and
monkeys, have been inoculated, but with no success. There
is certainly something strange and inexplicable in the fact,
that vaccination only protects mankind from variola, and that
in all other creatures it should be impotent to render their
bodies insusceptible to the influence of the variolous affections
to which they are liable.

' Rot ' {cachexia aquosa) in ruminants was extremely pre-
valent in France and Germany.^

Sander^ observed the typhoid or bilious fever {lebertyphus)
of horses in the harvest of 1809, at Bahrdorf, in Switzerland.
Papenrode^ also reported it in Brunswick. It followed the
overflowing of the pastures ; and appears to have been a kind
of influenza, chiefly marked by serious complications of the
biliary apparatus.'*

Hurtrel (T A7-boval. Op. cit. Wirth. Op. cit. p. 123.

^Sander. Vermischte Beitrage zur Praktischeii unci Gerichtlicheii Thierheil-
kunde. Berlin, iSio. ^ Wirth. Op. cit. p. 137,

*The epizooty designated in popular phraseology 'influenza,' and which we
have already i-eferred to so frequently in this history, is the epizooty, /ar excellence,
of the horse in western, and perhaps even in eastern and northern countries. Its
mutability as it appears year after year — its chameleon-like invasions, when it
shows itself as a disease not only of varying intensity and fatality, but as one which,
though marked by special characteristics, yet offers the widest diversity in its
manifestations — has obtained for it an extensive list of designations, according to
the type and the complications it may assume at different invasions. Thus it has
been named, in addition to its world-wide 'influenza' title, typhose by Lafosse
(1868), epizootic gastro-entcritis, gastro-cntero-nephro-hcpatitis, gasiro-hepato-spiital-
ineningitis, entero-pncumo-cai-ditis, epizootic pleui-o-pneutnoiiia, gan£re»0!/s pleuro-
pneumonia, typJioid pleiiro-pneumonia, general spontamoiis phlegmasia, complicated
pcripneiimonic fever (Nobis), gastric fever, gastro-catarrhal fever, mucous fever,
typhoid fever, epizootic catarrhal fever, epizootic nei-vous fever (Anker), complicated
rheumaiisinal fever (Spinola), cocotte (German, gallichter typhus, typhus Inliousus),
lebertyphus, abdominal or gangliontyphus, gehirntyphus, saichenartiges katarrhal-
fieber, typhose lungenseuche, sumpfficber, nervenfiebcr, ansteckendes nei-oenfieber,
akuter rotz, pferde influenza, Russische krankheit, blitzkatarrh, typhose seuche,
Spanische fetter, etc. These numerous, and generally sufliciently expressive,
names may sufiice to convey an idea of the multiform characters the disease, at
diflferent periods and in different countries, assumes.

Period from A.D. 1800 to A.D. 18 15. 27

From this year until 1812, the madness of foxes had been
observed in the Canton of Zurich. ' In the protocols of the
Sanitary Commission of Zurich, no notice was given of a
disease among foxes until the year 1809. Under date of the
1st November of this year, the Sanitary Commission of the
Canton Aargau reports that in the neighbourhood of Baden,
for some days, the foxes had shown strange symptoms, which
were quite unnatural to them. They had approached the
dwellings of men without fear, and very soon after a herdsman
and a cow were injured by them. According to an official
account of the 23rd June, 1812, several infected foxes had
shown themselves in the vicinity of Neftenbach. On the
27th March, a man met a fox in a wood ; this animal offered
battle and was killed by the man. The same individual
found a fox at the door of a dwelling ; this creature likewise
manifested a like inclination to do injury, and was also
destroyed. A fox came into a yard, bit a dog, and both were
killed. On the 30th April, another man discovered a fox
before his house as he was driving his goats to pasture ; the
fox attacked one of the goats and wounded its head ; where-
upon the owner slew it. On the 4th May, a woman of
Neftenbach was attacked in the neighbouring vineyard by a
fox, and bitten in the leg. From 18 12 to 18 19, we find no
trace of a disease among foxes in the records of the Sanitary
College.'!

An epizooty of ekzematous fever (foot-and-mouth disease)
appeared in many countries of Europe, but more particularly
in Germany. In some places it only attacked cattle, but in
others cattle and sheep were affected. It showed itself in
Nassau, where it was reported upon by Franque ;^ and in the
month of June in Wurtemberg.^ An outbreak of glossanthrax
is stated 10 have taken place among the cattle and horses in
the Canton Zurich* in that month, but this may possibly have
been the ekzematous or aphthongular malady. At any rate,
the epizooty was very prevalent in France and Italy, in which
countries it appears to have remained until i8ro and 181 1.

^Kdchlin. Op. cit. p. 6. = Op. cit. p. 165.

' Sammlung V. Verordnungen, p. 70. ^ Laubcndcr. Op. cit. vol. ii. p. 317-

28

Histoij of Animal Plagues.

D Arbovali notices its continuance and spread. ' The disease
which in 1809 extended over different countries of France
and which was particularly observed in the capital and the
vicinity of the Alfort College, continued, in 1810, in the
department of Calvados to the environs of Lyons and else-
where, and attacked cattle and sheep ; it reigned also at the
same time in Italy. Generally but little redoubtable in its
effects, it announced its presence in a similar manner in all
animals : it offered the same characters, exhibited no varieties,
and passed through its phases without producing much
derangement, usually terminating in the period of from ten to
twenty days. In the two species of ruminants attacked by it
there appeared in the interdigital space an ulcer which pro-
duced acute pain, and prevented the animal from putting its
weight on the limb. In 18 10, in the neighbourhood of Lyons
besides the large number of cattle affected, it was remarked
that sometimes monodactyles were attacked by it, as well as
goats and pigs. At the same time it broke out in many other
countries : in Switzerland, in the departments of L^man, in
Arriege, Tarn, and other places.' ^

^ Dictionnaiie, vol. i. p. ii6.

2 For the epizooty in the valley of the Auge, see the description hy Huzard, scnr
Precis sur I'Epizootie des Bceufs de la "Vallee d'Auge. Paris, 1810
In_ the neighbourhood of Paris, Girard, senr. Recueil de Veter., vol
IV. p. 350.

In the department of the Rhone, the Comptes-Rendus de I'Ecole de Lyon '
for i8u, i8i2.

In the Ardennes, Dehain, Gohier. Mem. sur la Chirureie Veter. vol ii
p. 127. ...

In the Eastern Pyrenees, Barrh-e. Journal Gen^rale de Med., vol. xliii
p. 196.

In the Upper Rhine, Berbier. Mem. de la Soc. Roy. d'Agricul du

Depart, de la Seine, vol. xvi. p. 116.
In the department of Correze, Neilhan. Mem. de la Soc. d'Agricul., 1813,

p. 48.

In the department of the Vosges, MattJiieu. Recueil de M^d. Veter., vol.

xn. p. 65. And for other parts of France, Sainton. Correspondence de

Fromage de Feiigre, vol. iv. p. 263. Leschevin. Annales de I'Agiicul.

Fran9aise, vol. xlix. p. 25.
For Switzerland, see Saloz. Comptes-Rendu de I'Ecole de Lyon, 1812.

For Germany, see Sander. Vermischte Beitrage zur Gericht. und

Practischen Thierheilkunde. Berlin, 1810.
For Italy, see Lcroy. Mem. publics par la Soc. d'Agricul., vol. xv. p. 60,
In Holland, the epizooty was studied by Kraff.

Period from A.D. 1800 to A.D. 1815. 29

The Cattle Plague was extremely prevalent and destructive
in Siberia during this and the two subsequent years.i It
made many irruptions into Europe. 2

A.D. 1810. Immense swarms of insects appeared in Germany.
The larvae of the May-bug destroyed the pastures, and those
of caterpillars and coleopterous insects greatly damaged the
pine trees in the forests.^ Locusts devastated Asia.*

In Bavaria, epizootic or contagious pleuro-pneumonia pre-
vailed throughout the year, and anthrax {inilzbrand) during
the summer.5 The latter disease committed great ravages
among the horses and cattle. It was discovered that the best
way of averting it was to send the cattle and other animals to
the highlands of the Alps.

In the previous year, in this, and also in the following year,
many animals died during the severe epidemy at Coimbatore
and other places in Ilindostan.^ Rabies in the dog was
epizootic in North America; at Ohio, not only were dogs
affected, but wolves and foxes were mad in great numbers.''
It is also stated that an epizooty among dogs was observed
in England, in which it was observed that the bladder was, in
almost every instance, very much inflamed, and in many cases
exclusively so.s

Rot caused much destruction of sheep throughout England,
but more particularly on the Lammermoors.^

Famine in Iceland during the winter, when, to preserve the
cattle and horses, on which they chiefly depend, these animals
were fed with chopped fish not only in the country, but even
in the towns.^*'

^ Hatipt. Ueber einige Seuchenkrankheit der Hausthiere in Sibirien und dem
sudhchen Russland, 1845, P- 231- Hufeland's Journal.

Sc/murrer. Op. cit. vol. ii. p. 490. * Rider. Erdk. Asien., vol. vi. p. 792
Laubcnder. Op. cit. vol. ii. pp. 337, 399. This author gives a very valuable
and interesting description of the malady and the sanitary measures.
^ Atnshe. Report of the Epidemic Fever of Coimbatore, Madura, etc
American Med. and Philos. Register, vol. i. American Journal of Med

T^^.',?°- ^Blaine. Canine Pathology.

^Fairbatrn. Treatise on the Cheviot and Black-faced Sheep.
Hooker. Tour in Iceland, vol. i. p. 347. Forbes informs us that in this
severe climate, vvnere the hay crop is so uncertain, famine in winter is not an
unlrequent occurrence, as the cows and ewes perish for want of food (Iceland : its
Volcanoes, etc., p. 25). Capell Brooke speaks of cattle being largely fed on fish

30

History of Animal Plagues.

A.U. 1811. In Austria, Salzburg, and Silesia, the Cattle
Plague was causing much loss.^ It was also ravaging Siberia
according to Jessen.- ' Besides other, and, in part, special
maladies of the bovine species, the Cattle Plague {Rinderpesf)
has several times raged throughout the length and breadth of
Siberia between the years 1810 and i8ti, and in the middle
of 1820, when it became so destructive throughout Europe,
not even sparing this most remote region. The restrictive
measures that were immediately adopted in Siberia were
unsatisfactory, because of the great extent of country and the
small population. On the first alarm, a veterinary surgeon
was sent to investigate the nature of the disease in a- herd — a
third of which had already succumbed ; but no satisfactory
intelligence could be obtained, as the owner was prevailed
upon to slaughter the remaining animals. The skins being
tanned, the tallow melted, and the other portions of the bodies
buried, the plague was stayed, until, at a later period, the
infection broke out again by being imported from a distance.
About the same time, the malady showed itself in a much
larger herd at a distance of a few hundred versts, and to this
the same veterinary surgeon was sent. ... In this instance,
also, time was lost ; many head of cattle had been driven
away from the herd, and this, as well as nearly all the neigh-
bouring herds, perished, while the malady spread everywhere.
The enormous number of cattle destroyed in these two periods
alone, is shown by the lists.'

In Switzerland, in many cantons, but especially on the
Saladier mountain, hundreds of young cattle died from the
presence of filaria in the bronchial tubes of the lungs.

in Norway. The little hay gathered in the mountains is boiled up with the
entrails and heads of the cod caught during the fishing season and carefully pre-
served for this purpose. Of this the cattle are amazingly fond. When the hay is
exhausted, sea-weed is used. The branches of the birch and other trees are also
cut and stored as fodder (Travels in Norway, p. 239). Forbes corroborates this
statement (Norway and its Glacifers, p. 54)-

^Kausch. Geschichte der Rinderpest in Schlesien in Herbst, 181 1. Memora-
bilien der Heilkunde. Ziillichau, 1813, vol. i. p. 45- See also Pcsshm.
Anleitung zur Heilung der Rinderpest mit der eisenhaitigen Salzaure. Vienna,
1812. Hildcnbrand. Ueber den Anstekenden Typhus. Vienna, 1812.

2 Jesseii. Die Rinderpest mit besonderer Beziehung auf Russland dargestellt.
Berlin, 1834, p. 77.

Period from A.D. 1800 to A.D. 181 5.

Gangrenous erysipelas {erysipelas carbimmlosmn) was
epizootic in the porcine tribe in 181 1, and also in 1 821, in the
agricultural district of Allost, in France ; it was so deadly that
nine out of every ten animals perished. It reappeared in the
same district in June and July, 1844, and killed all its
victims with an extreme rapidity — sometimes in eight or ten
hours.i

Toggia describes an influenza or ' brain-typhus ' ,prevailing
epizootically among horses in Piedmont.^

A.D. 1812. Locusts destroying all vegetation in Asia.^ In
Halle, the subterraneous larvae of a kind of beetle destroyed
all the seed-corn. A great flood of the Parana in South
America drowned immense numbers of cattle and other
animals, domesticated and savage. When the waters subsided,
their rotting carcases polluted the air. Parish* writes : 'When
the inundation exceeds these, its ordinary limits, the conse-
quences are very serious to the inhabitants of the adjacent
lands. The effects of a remarkable flood which took place in
18 12 will long be remembered. Vast quantities of cattle were
carried away by it ; and when the waters began to subside,
and the islands which they had covered became again visible,
the atmosphere for a time was poisoned by the effluvia from
the innumerable carcases of skunks, capiguaras, jaguars, and
other animals which had been drowned on them.'

In the early part of the year there were also serious inun-
dations in Southern France, and afterwards intensely hot
weather set in ; on which rot {pourritttre) appeared among
sheep in a most formidable manner. In the marshy country
of Aries 100,000 perished ; and in Nismes, Montpellier, and
other districts, an immense quantity — as many as 90,000
according to some reports — died. Horses, mules, hares, rabbits,
and other animals were attacked at the same time by malig-
nant anthrax, and mankind by an obstinate intermittent
fever. ^

^ Nouveau Dictionn. de Med. etc. Veterinaires, vol. vi. p. 320.
2 PVirih. Op. cit. p. 157.

^J^illcr. Op. cit. p. 794. * Parish. Buenos Ayres, p. 231.

" Leschcnajilt. Notice sur une Epizootic qui a regne sur tous les Betes Laine.
Paris, 1813. Hnrlrd d'Arboval. Op. cit.

32

History of Animal Plagues.

Epizootic ekzematous fever in Gcnevais/ and a severe
outbreak of epizootic pleuro-pneumonia in Switzerland.^

Malignant anthrax attacked all kinds of domestic animals
and poultry in the neighbourhood of Augsburg. Wild creatures
in the woods were not spared, and the contagion was trans-
mitted to man in several instances.^ Ovine small-pox was
very destructive in the province of Vicenza, Italy.* Schnurrer
speaks of the Cattle Plague as present in Prussia and
Silesia.''

Wirth" states that in 1812, 1813, and 1814, that form of
influenza he designates as brain-typhus {gehirntyp/ms), attacked
the horses belonging to the armies then operating on the
Continent. In 18 12 and 1813, it prevailed in Switzerland.

In 1 812, while the French army was in Russia, the soldiers
suffered much from dysentery ; at the same time, this disease,
accompanied by scorbutic symptoms— sponginess of the gums,
soft sloughing ulcers on the skin and, in the intestinal canal

reigned among the horsesJ It must be noted, however,

that Kirchner^ asserts that glanders appeared in an epizootic
form among the horses of the French and German armies in
Russia. This may be the disease of which Dillenius — who
was a medical man, and probably knew little of comparative
pathology— speaks.

At Ciudad Rodrigo, dry gangrene manifested itself with great
severity among the British troops, and was supposed to be
due, besidesextraordinary privationsand marching along heavy
wet' roads, to a disease among the cattle in the previous year.
' Besides the causes already mentioned as likely to have pro-
duced this dry gangrene, I ought not to omit that during the pre-
ceding very sultry and unhealthy summer, nearly all the bul-
locks for feeding the army had been driven up from the province
of Tras Os Montes, Portugal— and on reaching the banks of the

1 Recueil de Med. Veter., vol. xv. p. 653.

- Teuffcrs Magazine, vol. i. p. 3-

^Wirth. Op. cit. p. 85. ^Bottani. Vol. vm. p. 333-

5 0p. cit.vol.ii.p. S08. «0p. cit p i57.

7 Dillenius. Beobachtungen iiber die Ruhr in dem Russischen Fekkuge, 1S12.
Ludwigsburg, 1819.

^ Kinhner. Magaz. fiir Thierheilkunde, 1865.

Period frcin A.D. 1800 to A.D. 18 15. 33

river Aguada in Spain, which crosses an extensive savannah
(at the end of which stands Ciudad Rodrigo impending on a
rock over the river), many of these cattle were found affected
with a murrain and died in great numbers. The surviving
cattle were driven on to the army, but, I believe, many of
these were far from being sound when slaughtered — but
necessity, under such circumstances, required that their flesh
should be issued out to the troops ; and perhaps this, too,
contributed to throw the troops into the very sickly state in
which they were found to be after the retreat from Burgos.
That year I had many opportunities of inspecting the carcases
of the slaughtered cattle, and besides enlarged livers and
spleens^ and aphthous tongues and enlarged absorbent glands, I
found in several of the most unhealthy great affections of the
cellular tissue, which was either melted down into a gelatinous
consistence, or approached suppuration. In our auxiliaries,
the Spaniards, whose privations and fatigue were excessive, I
saw some few cases which approached very near to plague, if
they were not really that disease itself.' ^ The cattle disease
was evidently — from its origin and its symptoms — a dangerous
form of anthrax fever. *

A.D. 181 3. Epidemic yellow fever at Gibraltar, and plague
at Malta, Gozzo, Corfu, and other places.

A rabid wolf was seen at Bar-sur-Ornain, which did much
damage.^ Rabies canina appeared for the first time in the
island of Mauritius, according to Unienville.^

In Switzerland, epizootic or contagious pleuro-pneumonia
was very widely spread from 1812 to 1815.*

In Picardy an epizooty manifested itself among horses,
which Rayer,'' who reports it, imagined had some points of
resemblance to the miliary fever in man. It may be men-
tioned that Picardy was, and perhaps now is, notorious for the
last-named disease. ' There showed itself in August, in a

A. Neale, M.D. Researches to Establish the Truth of Animate Contagions.
London, 1831, p. 91,

2 Champion. Relation Hist, des Accidens cause par une Loup Enragcc.
Paris, 1813.

3 Unienville. Statist', de I'lle Maurice. Bcilriige Schwciz. Thier'artze.
Rayer. Hist, de I'Epidemie de Suette Miliarc, etc. Paris, 1822.

3

34

History of Animal Plagues.

great number of working horses in the district of Beauvais,
a cutaneous disease which, although generally benignant,
became sometimes mortal, by the conflicting and contra-
indicated treatment resorted to by the farmers and pretending
amateurs, these having erroneously confounded it with an-
other malady named " enchaubouleres," " ebullition " {imlgo —
"heat of the blood," "surfeit" in England). This disease,
named erysipelas, is characterized by a violent inflammation
of the skin, accompanied by pruritis or itching, which causes
the horse to rub himself against everything near. There are
seen on the skin small miliary pimples — so small as scarcely
to be perceptible. I have seen one of these animals in the
course of a few days, in consequence of the friction to which
he had subjected his skin, entirely denuded of hair. At the
commencement of this disease, the animal is dull and
nauseated ; the pulse is full and accelerated, and betokens a
strong reactionary fever. Bleeding, which is one of the
efficacious measures to be adopted in order to moderate the
early symptorris of this disease, ought only to be resorted to
by a veterinary surgeon, as it is a deadly measure when
improperly employed.'

The Cattle Plague was introduced to the provinces on the
banks of the Rhine by the Russian troops. ^ Nebel, who gives
us the earliest and most circumstantial account of the impor-
tation, states: 'In the autumn of 1813, when the Russian
army was marching towards the Rhine, on its way to France,
one of the Hungarian oxen, which we admired for their beauty,
became affected with the plague {pcstcm intulere). The con-
sequent mortality {strages) was not great, neither did it last
long, so that most of the cattle had survived the disease, or
they may have been bred from those which had been pre-
viously attacked and recovered.'^

The production of carbuncular anthrax from the supposed
bites of flies has been more than once alluded to in this

^ Franqitc. Op. cit. p. 103.

~ Fritschler. Hist. Pestis Bovillte. Giesssea, 1821, p. 12. This author gives a
good list of the writers who had, up to that period, published treatises on the
Cattle Plague.

Period from A.D. 1800 to A.D. 18 15,

history, and must furnish an interesting and important feature
in the etiology of the malady. We have referred to an
outbreak of this nature in Hungary, in 1790. We find that
in the present year there was another in that country, in
the palatinates of Arad, in Hungary, and in the Bannat
of Temeswar. In Boulak not fewer than two hundred
horned cattle perished from it, and in Versetz at least five
hundred. Like the former irruption, it was supposed to have
arisen from the attacks of the Siinilium of Latreille ; and the
insect is. described as making its appearance towards the
latter end of April or beginning of May, in such indescribable
swarms as to resemble clouds, proceeding, as some think,
from the region of Mehadia, but according to others, from
Turkey. ' Its approach is the signal for universal alarm.
The cattle fly from their pastures, and the herdsman hastens
to shut up his cows in the house ; or when at a distance from
home, to kindle fires, the smoke of which is found to drive off
this terrible assailant. Of this the cattle are sensible, and as
soon as attacked, run tovv^ards the smoke, and are generally pre-
served by it.'i 'Such attacks. are frequent in the hot dry
seasons, when insects are most numerous. The symptoms are
described to be a swelling of the throat, hanging down and
tumefaction of the head, rattling in the windpipe, difficulty in
respiration, palpitation of the heart, staggering, breathing very
quick and short, tongue shining, swollen, and often aphthous ;
muco-purulent discharge from the eyes and nostrils, and pro-
fuse diarrhoea^ — in fact all the symptoms of this particular
form of anthrax.

^ Kirby and Spence. Entomology, vol. I. p. 151.

- Townson. Travels in Hungary. Bruce informs us that in Nubia the wood
and plains are full of poisonous insects. At Senaar, men and women anoint
themselves once a day with camel's grease mixed with civet, to drive away these
pests, and sleep in shirts dipped in grease with the same object, as well as to keep
off malaria. Horses suffer extremely, and perish in great numbers ; indeed no
horses can be kept there. The cause of the mortality is owing to the existence of
prodigious swarms of a poisonous fly called the Tsaltsalya, literally the 'dog-fly,'
the ziinb. The insect is about the size of a humming-bee, makes a loud buzzing
noise, and inflicts a severe and poisonous wound. On its approach all the horses
and cattle rush madly towards aiiy water that may be near. Those it stings are
covered with carbuncles, which appear at the seat of injuiy (Travels to the Sources
of the Nile).

3—2

36

History of Animal Plagues.

A.D. 1 8 14. The harvest was unfavourable over the whole
of Europe. A great scarcity of provisions happened in Naples.
At Noya, in Italy, an epidemic resembling the plague broke
out in mankind, and soon afterwards it showed itself at
Cagliari. It was preceded by famine.

Sheep small-pox was epizootic at Belluno, in Italy.^
Epizootic influenza prevailed among the horses in the Canton
of Aargau, in Switzerland.^ At Rouen, in France, what was
termed an epizooty of gastric fever, but which was no doubt
the multiform disease ' influenza,' broke out among the horses
of the 4th Chasseurs a Cheval. According to Rodet, jun., the
commencement of the attack was very sudden, and was
announced by apathy, prostration, heaviness of the head, and
feebleness in movement. Then the eyes became tearful, and
were almost covered by the infiltrated eyelids ; the pulse,
until now full, strong, and rather quick, soon became very
small, always rapid, but feeble, and not unfrequently inter-
mittent ; a dry hacking cough was present ; the visible
mucous membrane showed a well-marked yellow tint ; the
respiration was anxious ; the faeces hard and covered with
mucus. In some cases the pulmonary organs were more or
less gravely affected, although always consecutively. Then
the movements of the animals became irregular and stagger-
ing ; a dark yellow liquid flowed from the nostrils, cedematous
swellines formed under the abdomen and chest. In some
instances, besides these symptoms, there were others, as
follows : Cutaneous eruptions, ptyalism, spasmodic move-
ments and other more remarkable nervous phenomena, and
black spots or stains on the conjunctiva and pituitary mem-
brane.

On examining the dead bodies, the essential lesions were
found to consist in a more or less peculiar and distinct yellow
colour of all the tissues, in inflammation of the mucous mem-
brane of the stomach and intestines— this tissue presenting
large patches of ecchymoses and gangrene, some of a violet
and others of a black colour, while others again were green,

' Bottani. Op. cit. vol. vii. p. 340. _ " Beitrage Schweiz. ThieiHrzt. p. 9.
3 Recueil de Med. Veterinaire, Vol. IX.

Period from A.D. 1800 to A,D. 181 5. 37

yellow, and lardaceous or gelatinous in consistence. The
mesentery and omentum were also spotted with dark gan-
grenous patches; the lungs were inflamed to a greater ex-
tent, and at times were even gangrenous ; the pleurae were
extremely inflamed, and contained a variable quantity of a
reddish coloured fluid.

In Siberia, a very deadly epidemy broke out, and at the
same time an epizooty showed itself among the reindeer.
Wrangell,! who witnessed this event, alludes to it when speak-
ing of the Tchuktches : ' Every tribe and every caravan is
accompanied by one or more Shamans (priests), who are
consulted on all important occasions, and their -iecisions are
rarely controverted. The extent of their power was shown,
am.ongst other instances, by a terrible one which occurred at
Ostrownie fair in 18 14. A sudden and violent disease had
broken out amongst the assembled Tchuktches, and had
carried off not only many men, but also a large number of
reindeer, which form their chief wealth.' This celebrated
explorer gives an excellent illustration of the change effected
in the condition of a people by losing its domestic animals
through disease, and also informs us that the reindeer is liable
to exterminating maladies ; and that disease among these
hardy creatures is very general and deadly at times. ' The
Jukahirs, who were once a numerous nomade race, have much
diminished. Most of them have lost their reindeer by sick-
ness, and now live poorly as fishermen along the banks of
rivers. Some few have preserved their reindeer, and have
withdrawn with them into the tundras near the sea.' Of the
tribes on the Aniui river he remarks : ' Most of these tribes
were formerly nomads, who ranged with their tame reindeer
far and wide through the tundras in search of the best
pasture. After the conquest of Siberia, they were subject to
tribute, and were restricted to a limited circle, within which
they were often unable to find sufficient food for their
reindeer. The consequence of this restriction has been the
gradual loss of those animals, partly from want of pasture,
and partly from sickness, which, when it broke out in a single

' Wrangell. Le Nord de la Siberic. Paris 184.3, vol. i. p. 265.

38

History of Animal Plasties.

herd, spread rapidly among the rest, as they could no longer
be withdrawn at once to escape the contagion. . . . The
population on the banks of the Aniui has increased latterly,
but this cannot be regarded as any sign of an improvement in
the condition of the people. It is caused by the influx of the
nomad tribes, who having lost their reindeer by sickness or
other accidents, are forced to seek their subsistence, like the
rest of their countrymen, in the neighbourhood of the rivers.
. . . . Formerly, all the Tchuktches lived on the produce of
their reindeer ; but those among them who lost their herds by
sickness or other causes, settled by degrees along the coast,
where they kill whales, seals, and walruses.' This is a
remarkable example of a people being compelled to change
their mode of life through the loss of their domestic animals ;
and we also find Mr. Kennan^ mentioning a similar instance.
He says that the settled Koraks of the Penzhinsk Giilf are
the most brutal and degraded of the natives of North-Eastern
Siberia. Having lost all their reindeer from disease, they built
houses of drift-wood along the sea-coast, and gained a sub-
sistence as fishermen.

The events of war in this year had greatly disseminated the
Cattle Plague over the continent of Europe. The allied
armies under Schwarzenberg had already, in the previous
year, on their way to invade France, imported the pestilence
into the Rhine provinces. Wherever they appeared bringing
with them their droves of commissariat cattle, as certainly
did the contagion extend to the herds in their vicinity, and
from these to districts even distant from the infected centres.
By this means it was carried into Switzerland,^ into Austria,^
Silesia,* into Upper Italy,^ and into France.^ In the latter
country it raged around Paris, and still more extensively and

^Kaman. Tent Life in Siberia. London, 1870, p. 232.
2 Beitrage Schweitz. Thierarzt, pp. 26, 42, et seq.

3 /. Lidl. De Epizootiis in Variis Austrite nec non German. Sept. partibus.
Viennse, 1815.

^ G. D. Namskr. Uber die Rinderpest und deren Behandlung. Breslau, 1816.
^ Boliani. Op. cit. vol. vii. pp. 270, 291, 339.

« The French have, as usual, given numerous accounts of this terrible epizooty,
some of them mar ked by great ability and erudition. The following are the prin-
cipal treatises :

Period from A.D. 1800 to A.D. 18 15. 39

disastrously over the whole empire, until 1816, during which
period the whole of Italy was infected and her herds ravaged.^

The many treatises on this visitation of the bovine scourge
would, in a special work on the Cattle Plague, well merit
attention ; but as hitherto, in consequence of the comprehen-
sive character of this history, , it has been impossible to do
more than briefly allude to the descriptions given by some of
the most prominent writers, so now we will only refer m a
summary manner to the observations of a few of the principal
veterinary authorities who witnessed the disease in France,
giving the titles of the books published at this time, below.

M. Grognier writes as follows :

'About the middle of April 1814, a serious epizootic broke
out in Ville Franche, in the department of the Rhone. Four
cows died, evidently of the same disease. They seemed to be
simultaneously attacked after they had eaten of the remains of
the fodder which had been given to a herd of Austrian cattle
that had traversed that road. M. Boin, a veterinary surgeon,
recognized in this disease a bilious inflammatory fever in the
highest degree contagious, and setting all medical treatment
at defiance. Without characterizing the malady otherwise
than by the general term of an epizooty, M. Rativet, veterinary
surgeon at Anse, had witnessed the condition of the cattle as
they passed. M. Gayot, veterinary surgeon, informed me that,
although situated on the high-road, his commune had been
exempted from the disease ; for every proprietor on the road,
alarmed by the reports that had reached him of the danger,

/. B. Gohicr. Mem. sur la Maladie des Betes a Comes dans le Depart, du

Rhone. Lyons, 1814.
Leroy. De la Contagion regnante sur les Vaches, sur les Bceufs, et sur

rhomme. Paris, 1814.
J. B. Huzard. Compte-Rendu sur I'Epizootie. Paris, 1815.
Muuclerc. Mem. sur la Maladie Epizootique, etc. Coulommiers, 1815.
Hurtrel cTArboval. Instructions Somm. sur I'Epizootie Contagieusc, etc.

Boulogne-sur-Mer, 1816.
M. Dupuy. Traite sur les Maladies Epizootiques. Paris, 1836.
Girardzx\CL Dupiiy. Notice sur I'Epizootie qui regne sur le Gros Betail.

Paris, 1 81 6.

Gucrsent and Dupuy. Dictionn. des Sciences Med. vol. xiii.
Metaxa. Op. cit. vol. ii. p. 292.

40 Histojy of Animal Plagues.

had closed his stables. In one village, however, a farmer lost
the whole of his cattle, from having permitted two of these
animals to rest for a few days on his premises. A farmer at
Amas lost twenty-two cows out of twenty-seven, in conse-
quence of his having opened his cow-shed to these animals as
they passed. The epizootic penetrated into Maranc6 in the
following manner : A man named Pomerel bought at Anse
some rags to fumigate his vines. They consisted of pieces of
coverlets. They were drawn home by two cows attached to a
cart. The rags were deposited under a waggon-house by
which his cattle passed in their way to and from the pasturage.
They appeared to scent the heap of rags, lowing and running
backwards, as if they were afraid to pass. A few days after-
wards, all his cows, including those which had drawn the cart,
were seized with the epidemic, and died. M. Privat, a cattle-
merchant at Onlius, received into his house some of the
butchers of the Austrian army. While they were there they
slaughtered an Hungarian ox, and left the skin in a corner
of the stable. He had at that time five healthy cows, but they
were all destroyed by the epizootic in six days. At the time
when, in conformity with the orders of the administration, I
inspected the markets of Ville Franche, four oxen that had
been concealed from inspection were brought to the premises
of M. Damiron. Two days afterwards, the only two cows
that M. Damiron had previously possessed became ill, and,
in process of time, died. M. Collet, veterinary surgeon at
Savigny, informed me that some Hungarian cattle were turned
into one of the fields of the mayor. All his cattle, which, on
the departure of the others, occupied the same fields, were
infected with the disease, and every one of them died.

' M. Tonnerieux, veterinary surgeon at Givors, attended
many cattle that were attacked by the disease ; and he
affirmed that, generally speaking, they became ill, one after
the other, in the order of proximity to the door in which they
stood in the stable. After being possessed of these facts and
many others, I could not deny that the epizootic which pre-
vailed was ' higJily contagious ' among cattle. Two facts proved
that it was not entirely limited to cattle. A large dog, four

Period from A.D. 1800 to A.D. 181 5. 41

years old, drank some of the milk of a cow labouring under
this disease. He was soon afterwards attacked by a foetid
dysentery, which lasted eight days ; he, however, ultimately
recovered. A horse ate a small bundle of hay that had been
refused by some of the Hungarian cattle, and which had been
contaminated by their saliva. The horse soon exhibited symp-
toms of typhoid disease, and died. On opening him, very great
gastro-intestinal inflammation presented itself. No fact, how-
ever, has proved the transmission of the poison to the human
being. I have known several veterinary surgeons who were
wounded in opening cattle labouring under this disease; but
I have net seen or heard of any inconvenience resulting from
it, beyond that of a simple wound. On the other hand, I have
known or heard of numerous examples of the fatal conse-
quence resulting from the inoculation of the human being by
matter discharged in the inflammatory contagious diseases of
cattle. This is not one of the least differences by which these
diseases are distinguished from each othei'. It has been asked,
whether it is prudent to eat the flesh of animals that are
labouring under or have died of this disease ? The troops of
the enemy, before they reached our unhappy country, ate with
impunity the flesh of such of their cattle as were affected with
typhus. They did so with impunity in the districts that were
most devastated by the diseases which they introduced. Even
their sick used this food when they were laid up in the
hospital. Our people did not scruple after this to have
recourse to it, and they did so with impunity. It was cheap
enough, for they purchased it at two sous per pound. I ate it
myself many times, and without inconvenience. It was as
good as the meat from the inferior joints of cattle. I gener-
ally had it stewed. The bouillon acquired somewhat of the
taste of fat pork, and did not yield that rich odour which good
meat thus treated acquires. That this food is not of a good
quality, that it may injure weak and sickly individuals, and
that it, consequently, ought to be excluded from the market,
is perfectly true ; but that it is essentially unwholesome, and,
more especially, that it can introduce a tendency to typhus in
those who eat it, I cannot believe.

42

History of Animal Plagues.

'Was it the Austrian, or, more properly, the Hungarian
cattle that, in 1 8 14, introduced this disease into France? or
was this malady the inevitable consequence of the excessive
fatigue, the multiplied excesses, the insufficient and unwhole-
some food, the inevitable crowding into small and ill-venti-
lated places, and other causes of disease inseparable from the
movements of large armies ? This is a question which, at
present, I will not undertake to solve ; but Buniva was so
convinced of the origin of the malady, that he called it " the
Hungarian epizootic." Huzard maintained that it had the
same origin ; but he accounted for it in a singular way. It
does not, according to him, exist in Hungary ; but the cattle
of that country, from which the supply for the troops was
almost entirely composed, contracted it in their route, in
consequence of the numerous sources of insalubrity to which
they were exposed, and, once being infected, they communi-
cated the disease with frightful rapidity. My attention was,
of course, much occupied in comparing the various modes of
treatment adopted in order to restrain the ravages of this
disease, for it was an evident fact that not more than one out
of ten attacked by the disease survived. The result was the
same whether I had recourse to bleeding or tonics, acids,
mucilages, or cordials. Many recipes were much in vogue,
and, with some difficulty, I obtained an account of the com-
position of several of them. At their head was one introduced
by the Vicomte de Bussy, and which he had seen a thousand
times used successfully in Germany, even when the animal
was so reduced that all hope of recovery was abandoned. It
was as follows : — " Take of yeast one ounce, and of ordinary
beer a quart. Give half a pint of this three times in twenty-
four hours, diminishing the dose as the animal gets better."
A half-pint of ale with a little yeast, or a cup of coffee, or a
cup of water, would have done as much good. Another
empiric added a quart of vinegar to ten quarts of barley-
water. A quart of this harmless mixture was ordered to be
given every two hours. This was certainly an improvement
on the prescription of the Vicomte, but both of them would be
perfectly useless. They were much of the same character

Period from A.D. 1800 to A.D. 181 5, 43

with the six grains of tartar emetic ordered for each beast in
the epizootic of 1757 by Surgeon Chaignebrun — or the theriaca
of Dr. Dufot — or the nitre and lily of the valley of Hartman.
These medicines must be truly ridiculous and powerless when
given in such minute doses. If a cure is ever effected appar-
ently by these nostrums, it must in reality be accomplished
by the efforts of nature. I should with more hope of success
have recourse to quinine ; but in what dose should it be
administered ? Twenty times as much as is given to the
human being. Half a drachm or a drachm should be adminis-
tered twice in the day, and its efHcacy assisted by those useful
adjuncts gentian and ginger. Some have recommended the
chestnut, the willow, the tamarind, and the gentian ; but with
the exception of the last, they are comparatively worthless,
and the gentian is a mere adjuvant to the quinine. After all,
the remedy for a disease does not consist in the administration
of any particular drug, but in the general mode of treatment
This must be directed by a person of real talent and skill, who
can detect every change, and avail himself of every indication.
There never will exist a sufficient number of veterinary
surgeons thus to treat methodically and carefully one of these
contagions, coming upon us like a vast and rapid inundation,
and spreading itself suddenly over whole districts. When an
expanse of country is infected — when every village and every
stable is filled with patients, where shall be found sufficient
power to grapple with the evil ?

'The veterinary surgeon hastens through the infected villages
and hamlets. As he pursues his rapid course, he prescribes
the medicine that is to be given and the course that is to be
pursued, and on he hurries to other patients. The owner of
the diseased cattle — does he faithfully obey the directions that
have been given, or does he clumsily blunder through them ?
Or does he employ them not merely on the case in hand, but
on many other ailments, real or suspected, of other animals ?
For when the epizootic rages, every little illness is supposed to
be connected with it, or caused by it. Is the same specific
applied to laminitis or to apoplexy ; and, failing with regard to
them,does the owner immediately apply to the "cunning man"?

44

History of Anifnal Plagues.

The public authorities interfere. Are they not endeavouring
to repress a contagion, the control of which is beyond their
power ? Their task is a laborious one ; it is expensive ; it
cripples the commerce of the country ; it interferes with
agriculture ; it is injurious to a multitude of individual
interests ; it is difficult to establish, and that difficulty increases
in proportion to the false notions that prevail of the nature
and treatment of the epidemic. The very interference of the
veterinary surgeon is often an evil. One animal in the process
of treatment may infect a whole stable. While the attention
of the veterinarian is engrossed by a certain number of patients,
a whole community may be empoisoned, and the medical man
himself may be the very vehicle of the infection. The pest may
be more rapidly diffused than the antidote. Many may be
cured, but a great many more will succumb before the remedy
can arrive. " All other things being equal," says M. de Berg,
" it is in the country which is best supplied with veterinary aid
that the progress of the disease is most rapid. The reason is
simple. The surgeon often enters an infected cow-house
without his being at all aware of it. The contagious malady
has not yet displayed its usual and fatal symptoms. He
attends], to the case before him, and then he goes to assist
an animal suffering from difficult parturition, or labouring
under some of the numerous diseases to which neat cattle are
subject, and he, unaware of the mischief, carries with him the
contagion, and spreads the evil far and wide. He carries the
poison in everything that he has about him, and especially in
the woollen clothes that he wears."

'The infected animals are likewise capable of communicating
the disease before there is anything about them by which its
presence is indicated. How often has the passage of one
infected beast through a certain district spread the disease far
and wide ! The poison is conveyed by the hair with which
they are covered, the effluvia from their evacuations, and the
emanations from the pores of their skin. ... I have seen
many oxen die when surrounded by chlorine gas, and I have
likewise had forced upon me the certainty that the cowhouse
remained as fully infected as at first, although twenty dis-

Period f^'om A.D. 1800 to A.D. 18 15.

infectant fumigations had been applied. . . . Have we any
means of thoroughly purifying an infected stable ? or are we
sometimes compelled, as is done in Switzerland and Germany,
to raze to the ground the buildings that have been con-
taminated by the poison? I am unwilling to advise the
extreme measure, but I will mention one fact. There was a
stable at Saint-Laurent de Chemaisset, which for many
years, and notwithstanding innumerable fumigations, and
although the walls had been whitewashed several times, and
the mangers and the racks had been scraped, and the beams
had been planed, and the pavement had been renewed, and
every utensil was carefully scoured — was yet a source of
infection, until the cattle were removed, and it was employed
for another purpose.' Speaking of preventive measures, he
adds : ' The practitioner need not be ashamed when he is thus
employed ; for next, or equal, to the rescuing from destruction
those that are already attacked, is the preservation of the
remainder of the dairy. He will have enough to do in the
early recognition of the epizootic disease ; its origin, its pro-
gress, its fearful modes of propagation, its character, the
probable time of its continuance, the method of distinguishing
it from other diseases with which it may be confounded, the
means of cure, the preventive measures which it may be
necessary to adopt, and which absolute necessity can alone
justify — here will be sufficient room for the display of talent
and the exercise of sound discretion. Among these measures,
the most efficacious and the most imperative will occasionally
be the sacrifice, I will not say of the diseased only, nor of those
that are suspected, but of others that, to the inexperienced
eye, continue to exhibit symptoms of health. "Who can better
determine the cases in which the disease will be almost
necessarily fatal from those in which there is yet hope, than
the veterinary surgeon ? Who will be able earliest to recognize
the changing character of the disease, and to seize the oppor-
tunities when decisive measures must be adopted, or nature
left to itself? Who, if I may be permitted to draw such a
comparison, when an immense conflagration has broken out,
and the play of the pump has become powerless, and the

46

Hisioiy of Animal Plagues.

flames are increasing every moment, will not regard with
admiration those who are actively employed in cutting off all
communication with the neighbouring buildings, and removing
all combustible matter, and sacrificing everything that would
tend to increase the violence of the flames ? Such is the duty
of the veterinary surgeon. It is an arduous but an honourable
one.'

Hurtrel d'Arboval informs us that the disease broke out in
many villages in the department of the Pas-de-Calais, at
Baurains, Douchy, Marconnelle, and other places ; and that
it was brought thither by cattle which had been imported to
supply the commissariat of the British army, a portion of
which was then returning to Britain. About the second week
in December, 1815, thirty horned beasts belonging to M.
Moulins, a butcher and army contractor, were lodged in an
inn at Marconnelle ; these animals came from Chateau-
Cambresis. Many of them appeared to be ill. The hay
which they had left was given to the landlord's cows, and
these became sick and soon all died. At the same time,
another lot of cattle belonging to this butcher were located at
Aubin. They ate little. About fifteen days afterwards, eleven
more arrived at this place, and these fed no better than the
former lot. On the evening of their arrival, Mr. Carpentier,
of Marconnelle, brought a very fine cow which he had just
purchased. It refused all kinds of food. It was ordered by
the man who sold it to be kept separate. In a few days after
this the disease broke out at Aubin. Numerous other similar
examples are given to show that the contagion was imported
into these places, and how it spread. The symptoms he
enumerates do not differ in any essential features from those
described by preceding writers. The second stage lasts two
days, when the animal often dies ; usually, however, diarrhoea
commences on the third day. When the disease is about to
terminate fatally, the dejections have an odour more and
more foetid, and are very putrid and abundant ; the eyes are
sunk and fixed ; the head is turned towards the sides ; pro-
gression becomes impossible ; the pulse is obliterated ; the
animal gives utterance to plaintive signs, and scarcely moves,

Period from A.D. 1800 to A.D. 181 5.

until all at once it falls in a heap, its voice is lost, and death
soon takes place. The phenomena are observed from the
fifth to the seventh day of the disease. It is also during this
period that pregnant cows abort. Many calves which are
dropped at their full time have exhibited all the symptoms of
this fearful disease, and have died. When the termination is
to be favourable, the disease is less rapid in its progress ; the
animal does not entirely refuse its food ; the matters evacuated
are not very abundant, fluid, or discoloured ; sometimes an
aphthous eruption in the mouth is noticeable. If the disease
does not become serious between the third and the fifth day
there is hope ; and if it gets over the seventh day, it is very
rare that death takes place. The animal which survives the
ninth day may be considered as saved. The changes
observed in the alimentary canal were of an inflammatory
character ; the mucous membrane of the small intestines was
in a state of gangrene. They contained much foul gas, and
matters resembling muddy water, or white or slightly yellow-
coloured fluid. The liver was softened and pale, and the gall-
bladder full of yellow liquid bile. The heart was shrunken,
softened, and flaccid, and the little blood it contained was
black and fluid.

The most characteristic signs of the epizooty were slight
nervous twitchings, adynamia, dysentery, phlogosis of the
mucous membranes, and inflammation of the small intestine.
The phenomena of the malady were varied. In some localities
internal anthrax {charbon interne) was most conspicuous. The
dysentery manifesting itself only on the fifth day, instead of
the third, was a certain indication of death. At other places,
Villiers, for example, the inflammatory character of the
malady was so marked that antiphlogistic treatment was
indicated at the commencement of the attack. The most
remarkable feature, however, was the presence of a continued
fever, sometimes accompanied by brief remissions, ataxia and
adynamia.

D'Arboval was of opinion that medical treatment of the
disease was to be commended, as many animals would recover
with judicious management ; but if they were abandoned to

48

History of Animal Plagues.

nature, or badly treated, there would be nearly as many deaths
as there would be sick. Bleeding, drastic purgatives, stimu-
lating or heating remedies, were all. dangerous. Setons and
fumigations he relied chiefly on, with the administration of
emollient drinks, and quinine, gentian, and other tonics. In
the second stage of the malady he recommended friction to
the spine and the members with volatile liniment, and rice or
flour gruel drinks acidulated with vinegar or sulphuric acid.
After the fifth day, if the disease became aggravated, he
thousfht it was time to abandon all treatment, as the animal
might be considered lost. When recovery was taking place
the strength was to be maintained by beef-tea and bread
steeped in water, and bitters in beer was to be given fre-
quently. The animal was only to be allowed its ordinary
food by slow degrees. But adopting wise preventive
measures and the exercise of great care, of the nine hundred
and twenty-eight communes which formed the department of
the Pas-de-Calais, fourteen only were allowed to suffer from
the epizootic. In these stricken communes it was reckoned
there were four thousand eight hundred and twenty-three
head of cattle, and of this number four hundred and eighty-
two only were attacked, of which three hundred and twenty-
eight died, and a hundred and fifty-two were cured. The
value of the animals before they died was reckoned at
48,664 francs, a large sum if the small proportion of com-
munes attacked is considered. Every praise is given to the
effective measures which saved the whole of the farmers from
inevitable ruin. At Lyons and in its environs the disease
ravaged the country long and widely, because the presence of
a foreign army prevented these measures being enforced.

* Professor Gohier, who witnessed the epizootic in the depart-
ment of the Rhone, was much confused in tracing its origin.
He regarded it as an acute catarrhal inflammation of nearly
all the mucous membranes of the body, but especially of that
lining the alimentary canal. There was diarrhoea and dysen-
tery, and he thought it was a grave mistake to look on the
malady as at all related to anthrax. There could be no doubt
as to its highly contagious character, but fortunately it did not

Period frovi A.D. 1800 to A.D. 181 5.

attack horses, asses, sheep, or dogs. The professor successfully
attempted to communicate it by cohabitation, and also by
introducing the matter from the nostrils of the diseased beasts
into the nasal cavities of healthy ones. He quite believed that
goats ivould contract the malady', and says that many have taken it
through staying bnt a short time in the same sheds with diseased
cows.

When the animals were dead putrefaction set in rapidly,
and an examination of their bodies exhibited always the same
pathological changes. The organs in the thorax were not so
much affected ; in the abdomen the mucous membrane of the
intestines was inflamed, of a brownish hue, with collections of
dissolved blood in their interior; the same was observed in the
uterus and the bladder. The gall-bladder was filled with a
thick black bile. The fourth stomach was inflamed and ean-
grenous in many places. The food enclosed in the third stomach
was black and dried, and the epithelial membrane was detached
and remained adherent to the food. The symptoms enumerated
by Gohier do not vary much from those already given. There
were rigors and a slight tumefaction of the eyelids ; the mem-
brane lining the nose became red, and the discharge was
abundant. The vessels of the conjunctiva were congested,
and the caruncula lachrymalis and membrana nictitans were
gorged with blood. The horns were hot, as well as the super-
ficies of the body ; the excrements were dry, and showed
streaks of blood. This state lasted for two days, rarely for three.
Then these symptoms became augmented. Profuse diarrhoea
set in, with prostration of vital power, grinding of the teeth,
and sometimes tetanic rigidity of the muscles ; the respiration
was jerking and interrupted as in ' broken wind ' in the horse.

The third stage was announced by coldness of the horns and
the skin ; dryness and excoriation of the skin of nose ; a
foamy saliva running from the mouth, and a most foetid
diarrhoea often enough mixed with blood ; the pulse imper-
ceptible ; tremblings ; great difficulty in respiring, and fre-
quently repeated sighs or moans. Many animals, when they
lay down, turned their heads round on their shoulders, and
kept their necks curved in this way for a long time — a sign of

4

50 History of Animal Plagues.

approaching death. The question was asked if the epizootic
has been caused by the Hungarian cattle, and if it had been
developed in these animals by the particular influences of
climate, nourishment, fatigue, etc. The author was at that
time unable to decide this difficult problem. Of its very con-
tagious nature there could be no doubt, and there was no
occasion for wondering that in so brief a time it should have
made such great progress, as the nearly continual march of
troops prevented the having recourse to those great measures
of safety used in such cases.

Scarcely was it possible to save one animal out of twelve or
fifteen. The cows which calved were preserved ; and those
animals which were cured had eruptions, which always denoted
a favourable termination. The non-success of medical treat-
ment he attributed to the peculiar nature of the inflammation,
which had a great tendency to pass into gangrene. All kinds
of treatment were tried, but without avail ; bleeding and purga-
tives were hurtful ; setons scarcely caused any swelling, much
less suppuration. Out of twenty-seven animals, of which
twenty-two were oxen, three cows, and two goats treated by
the professor, he was only able to save two cows. He came to
the conclusion that regime and medicaments were illusory, but
he believed in the utility of preservative measures. ' Has there
not at difl"erent times been numbers of remedies proposed for
the cure of glanders, rabies, and sheep small-pox, and is there
one of them effectual ? The same may be said for those held
up as specifics for the cure of this disease, which is a kind of
plague. Is there any remedy which is really preservative
against the plague in mankind ? The best physicians say there
is not. When we are told that a certain number of animals have
been cured or preserved by some kind of treatment, we must
not take this expression to the letter, because it can never be
proved that all these have been, or would have been, attacked
by the epizootic' A synoptical table is given of the various
ways by which the contagion of epizootic diseases may be

communicated.

It appeared to Gohier that, in the public interest, all the
affected cattle, when they had reached the second stage of the

Period from A.D. 1800 to A.D. 1815. 51

disease, should be destroyed, because experience had demon-
strated that their recovery then was always impossible. At
least for one that was cured twenty perished, and these before
their death communicated the malady to numbers of others.
By timeously killing them the contagious centres were
diminished.

The veterinarian Huzard, in a report laid before the Society
of the Faculty of Medicine of Paris, on the 28th of April, 18 14,
informs us that a deadly epizooty had been raging for some
time among the cows and oxen. The disease, which appeared
to have been brought from Hungary by the Allied armies,
was regarded as a bilious putrid fever, very contagious, and
which often carried off those attacked by it in thirty-six hours.
The cows were never seized until after they had been in com-
munication with the Hungarian oxen, or the cattle captured
by the Cossacks, and which had herded with the sick
animals. That which was most singular was, that the disease
did not exist in Hungary, according to the information given
by those Austrian officers well versed in rural economy. It
seemed that it was the fatigues of the journey, the bad food, and
the vicissitudes of the weather, which excited the appearance
of the malady.

The constant phenomena attending its appearance were loss
of appetite, suspension of rumination, and suppression of the
secretion of milk from five to six hours before the commence-
ment of the more palpable symptoms. The disease lasted at
the most five days. Towards the end there was a very foetid
putrid dysentery. When the animals died, the intestines were
found inflamed, the gall-bladder extremely distended, and
filled with bile more or less thick. No kind of treatment was
successful, and only some beasts here and there were saved.
It was necessary to isolate, as completely as possible, the
diseased from the healthy beasts. As soon as a proprietor
saw his cows ill, he hastened them to the butchers, who
converted them into beef This was not unhealthy, for the
troops which were fed on it experienced no ill effects ; not-
withstanding this, however, it had less flavour than healthy
flesh.

4—2

52 History of Animal Plagues.

In general, in diseases, it was considered preferable to sell the
animals in this way than to treat them, because the price of the
drugs and the doses which it was necessary to give to produce
any effect, surpassed the abilities of the proprietors, and often
exceeded the value of the animals. And after all, experience
had demonstrated that drugs are always useless against con-
tagious epizootics. Against these, says M. Huzard, there
is only needed men and money. Men to prevent communi-
cation between the healthy and diseased animals, and to
execute the necessary sanitary measures, and money to defray
the expenses of these and the cost of isolation. Some useful
tables are given of the estimated losses in the arrondissements
of Paris, Saint-Denis and Sceaux. The whole department of
the Seine was calculated to contain, in the beginning of 1814,
eight thousand cows ; and of this number, at the maximum,
two thousand had died or been sold in consequence of the
epizooty The number had only been reduced by one-fourth,
and it was reckoned that about one-eighth had actually
perished from the disease, which was more disastrous in the
country than in the city, where the loss only amounted to about
one-tenth. It was conclusively shown that all those which had
been isolated were preserved, and that the malady only
manifested itself where it had been carried. There is much
complaint made, and with reason, of the carelessness of the
cattle-owners and of the little importance they attached to the
employment of police measures, in which they had no
confidence ; while they pinned their faith on the nonsense of
charlatans, on all the pretending curers of the malady, and in
old-fashioned preservative and curative recipes. The local
authorities only too often ignored the laws relative to
epizootics, and were far from strict in enforcing then- execu-
tion A great number, in fact the majority of them, did
nothing-a circumstance which may be attributed to the
events of war. Yet, this able veterinarian asserts,_ against an
epizooty of this kind the administrative police is the only
power which can be brought efficaciously into play. Lastly
it was to the negligence or the misconduct of proprietors tha
Tht assuredly be attributed the ravages of epizootics, and not

migi

Period from A.D. iZoo to A. D. 1815. 53

to the disease itself, which it is easy to arrest or prevent. In
a Hsinni of his observations, it is advanced that this disease
had always been imported into France by contagion alone.
Tills contagion had always been due to expatriated animals in
which fatigue, overheating, and bad nourishment had
developed the malady spontaneously.

The distinctive characteristic of the epizooty was the
inflammation of the abdominal viscera, principally of the
stomachs, the intestines, and the liver — whence resulted a
dysenteric, bilious, or putrid flux. It was generally mortal, as
were all the intense inflammations of the herbivorous ruminants,
which terminated promptly by asthenia. The flesh of the
diseased animals was largely consumed by the Allied armies,
and by the inhabitants of Paris and its environs, without any
accident. The only measure which was most generally neg-
lected, was the isolation of the diseased and the healthy. This
isolation was all the more indispensable as the epizooty was very
contagious. The contagion was only communicable to animals
of the same species. It had no eff'ect on man, nor on animals
of a different species. The destruction of the diseased or con-
taminated beasts could only be practised effectually where there
was unity of action and of administration ; and above all in the
commencement of the disease, when it had only shown itself
at a few points, or among a small number of animals which were
easy to circumscribe. There was some complaint made of the
insufficiency of the resources which veterinary medicine
afforded in this disease ; but was human medicine any more
successful in the curative treatment of the plague, yellow fever,
or of typhus ? And was it not something to be already able
to indicate, in a certain manner, preservative and preventive
measures ?

Gucrsent, assisted by the veterinary professor Dupuy, in an
able essay on epizooties, devotes a considerable portion to the
discussion of this particular disease. This work is well worthy
of the attention of the veterinary student, and I only regret
that I am not able here to give even a very brief analysis of
some of the more particular passages. This author is the
first in France, I think, who designates the epizooty as

54

History of Animal Plagues.

' contagious typhus,' and he says he has borrowed the name
from the Germans, in preference to that of ' cattle plague,'
* malignant fever,' ' pestilential fever,' ' the variolous pest,' and
even the ' cattle small-pox.' He regarded it as contagious,
and as comporting itself like the human plague or typhus of
the East, and the typhus of the armies in Europe. The con-
tagious emanations from diseased cattle could easily be trans-
mitted by the air. He asserts positively that the epizooty was
not transferable either to goats, sheep, horses, cats, dogs, etc.
The incubation of the contagious miasma is some days before
the development of the malady. Dupuy's observations are
very valuable, as they are exact in the details of all the
symptoms of the malady during life, and in the changes found
after death. This talented veterinarian, however, made a
grave mistake in maintaining that the disease was variola—
indeed, in many epizootics of a different kind he saw nothing
but this affection, and this blunder led him to erroneous con-
clusions. The experiments with regard to the production of
the disease by cohabitation and inoculation are interesting,
and most conclusive. The incidental consecutive eruption
was observed by him in a fair proportion of cases, and
especially as occurring on the mammae. Altogether his treatise
is most instructive, and recent observers have added but
little to the descriptions he affords.

55

CHAPTER II.

PERIOD FROM A.D. 1816 TO A.D. 1830.

A.D. 1815. An awful volcanic eruption took place in the
island of Sumbavva, near Java. Out of 12,000 people only
twenty-six escaped. At the same time, violent whirlwinds
carried up men, horses, cattle, and whatever else came within
their scope.^ A very severe epidemy prevailed at Corfu.

A serious epizooty among horses is casually mentioned by
Youatt as occurring in this year. 'So lately as the year
181 5, an epidemic of a malignant character reigned among
horses. Three out of five which were attacked died. It
re-appeared in 1823, but was not so fatal. It was said that
the horses that died were ultimately farcied ; the truth was,
that swellings and ulcerations, with foetid discharges, appeared
in various parts, or almost all over them.' 2 Hydrophobia
appeared in an epizootic form in dogs at Copenhagen and
throughout Norway.^ In Austria this malady was also
remarkably frequent.*

It is generally believed that in this year the specific foot
disease of sheep {contagioiLs ovine paronychia), known by the
designation of 'pedero' in Spain, 'pietin,' 'limace,' 'fourchet,'
' pesogne,' ' pourriture du pied,' ' crapaud contagieuse,' ' cuidite
pustuleuse,' etc., in France, was introduced into Germany by
Spanish Merino sheep imported from the latter country.^ In

^Lydl. Op. cit. - Youall. The Veterinarian, vol. vi. p. 122.

3 Vibo'rg. Conspect. Prtecip. comm. de Enzootica Canina atque Hydrophobia,
181 7

■» ivaldinger. OEsterr. Jahrbuch, 1816. Also Abhandlung iiber die Krank-
heiten der Hunde. Vienna and Trieste, 1818.

= Wurtemberger Verordn. p. 156. Hciisinger. Op. cit. p. 291.

56 History of Animal Plagues.

Germany it has been named the 'bosartige Spanische Klauen-
seuche,' ' Franzosische Klauenseuchc,' ' Klauenkrankheit/
' chronische Klauenkrankeit der Schafe,' ' Kriimme,' ' Kriimpe/
' Klauenkrebs,' etc. Since the year 1791,- when Chabert^
exactly described it by the name of ' crapaud ' — though he
overlooked its epizootic and contagious character — it had
been known in the Pyrenees, on the banks of the Gironde, in
Vivrais, and in Bas-Medoc. At various periods, but only
subsequent to the introduction of Merino sheep into that
country, it has prevailed very extensively as an epizooty. It
is only since 1805 that it has appeared in Piedmont and
Switzerland.^

In the province of Belluno, Italy, contagious pleuro-
pneumonia appeared in an epizootic form.^ In the States of
the Church, anthrax prevailed among cattle and at Rome
a similar epizooty manifested itself among pigeons. Metaxa^
thus alludes to this extraordinary outbreak : ' About this
time there broke out at Rome a mortality among pigeons,
more particularly young ones. It began with the formation
of small encysted tumours, of a steatomatous or atheromatous
appearance, and which soon degenerated into veritable car-
buncles {che dalla condizione di steatoini, ed aterovii degenera-
vano in veri carboni). The occurrence of the malady was
attributed to the collecting and keeping a great number of
these creatures in small, narrow, ill-ventilated dwellings, and
feeding them on damaged mouldy Indian corn {dal grano
d'India alterato e mucido). It was suppressed by changing
their food and habitations, and much immediate benefit was
derived from the use of water in which lime had been dis-
solved.'

At Maubege, France, dysentery was panzootic; people,
cattle, horses, dogs and cats being affected.'^

1 Chabert. Instructions Veterinaires. Paris, 1791, p. 213.

2 Hctet. Bibliotheque Britannique, art. 'Agriculture,' vol. x. p. 371. See also
Tessier. Instructions sur les Betes i Laine, pp. 223, 230. Huzard. Nouv.
Diet. d'Histoire Naturel, second edition, vol. xix. p. 523.

^ Bottani. Op. cit. vol. vii. pp. 34S. 348-

♦ Metaxa. Op. cit. vol. ii. p. 297. H^'d- 1°^. cit,

^ MeJuuann. Hiifclatid' s ]o\xrr\3.\, Oct. 1 821.

Period from A.D. 1815 to A.D. 1830. 57

A.D. 1816. The weather in Central Europe was most un-
favourable, being cold and damp. The crops suffered to an
excessive degree, and scarcity and famine followed. Probably
in consequence of the low temperature, maladies of a parti-
cular type were rare. Schnurrer^ writes for Germany : ' Owing
to the strange weather, there was observed in the northern
districts a great quantity of fish. At Kronburg there was
such an extraordinary number of horn-fish, that the fishermen
could almost shovel them into their boats ; the lobsters and
herrings also appeared to be in great plenty.'

In Ireland ' cutaneous diseases and vermin committed great
ravages at that time.' ^

Owing to the cold weather in the Highlands of Scotland,
there was a most serious mortality among sheep and lambs,
but more particularly the latter. The districts bordering on
the Atlantic suffered the most severely ; and an observer
states that in a walk through the Braes of Glenorchy, he
counted upwards of a hundred lambs by the way, that all
appeared as if newly dead, and nearly as many more that had
quietly lain down to perish without further exertion. And in
fishing for about two hours on another day along the river
Lyon, in the finest pasture glen in the Highlands, he saw no
fewer than sixty-three carcases of old sheep by the side of the
stream, all apparently dead of hunger.^

Rot in sheep {cachexia aquosci) caused great losses in France.
' Humidity has an injurious influence on all kinds of animals
that have a weak and lymphatic temperament. Sheep are in
the unfavourable situation of most quickly receiving this im-
pression. What took place in 18 16 affords a lamentable
example. The rain continued to pour during the whole of the
summer ; and, as a consequence, almost every flock, even those
that were best cared for, became a prey to dropsy, which
prevailed epizootically from the commencement of autumn. '■*
The disease continued until the next year, and the Minister of

^ Sc/mnrrer. Op. cit. vol. ii. p. SS"-

2 Kidd. On Typhus Fever. Edinburgh Med. and Surg. Journal.
'The Edinburgh Farmers' Magazine, May, 1817.
* Hurircl d' Arboval. Op. cit. art. ' Pourriture.'

58

History of Animal Plagues.

the Interior deputed veterinary surgeons Huzard and Tessier
to draw up a report on it.

It also prevailed in Germany.

In the kingdom of Nassau, according to Franque, splenic
apoplexy (anthrax) was epizootic.

In India, the seasons appear to have been no more propitious
than they were in Europe, and blights and disease in grain
were common. So heavy and continuous were the rains, that
the great rivers overflowed their banks and destroyed much
property. During the whole of this and the following year,
damp thick fogs prevailed, and sickness was general.

In Ceylon, during this period, an epizooty resembling that
of 1806 was reported. An observer states : 'Black cattle are
sometimes subject to an extensive and devastating murrain ;
there was one in 1806 and 1807, and another in 181 5 and
1 8 16. The latter was more severely felt towards the northern
than the southern extremity of the island. The origin of the
disease is involved in great obscurity; whether it be contagious
or not, my information does not enable me to decide. The
symptoms were : a drooping and unhealthy appearance of the
animal, hanging down of the head, swelling about the eyes,
mouth, and throat, quick respiration, rattling of the throat,
unsteadiness in walking, great discharge of fluid from the eyes,
ulcers about the mouth and nose, and impaired appetite ;
towards the advanced period of the disease, purging super-
vened. I inspected one body after death, and did not discover
any remarkable structural derangement. At the same time,
when the murrain was destroying great numbers of black cattle,
a dreadfully fatal disease prevailed among the wild elephants,
hogs, deer, and elks. In some places of the Barticaloe
district, where wild hogs abound, the bodies of several hundreds
of these animals were occasionally found collected within a
very limited space.' ^

Ceylon has often attracted attention on account of the great
epizootics which have from time to time swept away both
feral and domesticated animals. Perhaps it was the frequent
occurrence of deadly disorders in man and beast that caused

1 Marshall. Op. cit.

Period from A.D. 1815 to A.D. 1830. 59

medicine to be made a branch of royal education among the
early kings of Ceylon, and induced such anxious solicitude for
its careful study everywhere among the Singhalese. One of
the edicts of Asoca, engraved on the second table at Girnar,
relates to the establishment of a system of medical adminis-
tration throughout his dominions, 'as well as in the parts
occupied by the faithful race as far as Tampaparni (Ceylon),
both medical aid for men, and medical aid for animals,
together with medicaments of all sorts suitable for animals and
men.'i Bujas Rajah, King of Ceylon (A.D. 339), was the
author of a work on surgery ; he built hospitals for the sick
and asylums for the maimed, and the benefit of his science
and skill was not confined to his subjects alone, but was
equally extended to the relief of the lower animals — elephants,
horses, and other suffering creatures.^ In the second century
before the Christian era, the capital city (Anarajapoora),
among other conveniences, contained hospitals in which
animals, as well as men, were tenderly cared for. The 'corn of
a thousand fields' was appropriated by one king for their use;
another set aside rice to feed the squirrels which frequented
his garden ; and a third displayed his skill as a surgeon, in
treating the diseases of horses, elephants, and snakes.^

With regard to the causes of these widespread and fatal
diseases among animals in Ceylon, we are left somewhat in
doubt ; but it is pretty certain that climate and the geological
and topographical features of the country had much to do with
their occurrence. The north of Ceylon is low and level, and
constituted mainly of swampy or irrigated land ; there are no
mountains, and owing to the winds of both monsoons passing
across the island without leaving behind them an adequate
supply of moisture, droughts are periodical visitations, and
are frequently of long continuance. Vegetation in the low-
lying and scarcely undulating plains is mainly dependent on
dew.s, and whatever damp is distributed by the steady sea-
breeze ; and in places the sandy .soil rests upon beds of
madrepore and coral rock, which permit the moisture to

'Journal Asiatic Soc. of Bengal, vol. vii. p. 159.

- rennent. Ceylon, vol. i. pp. 504, 505. ^ ibid. Op. cit. 493.

6o

History of Animal Plagues.

escape before the earth has been thoroughly saturated. In
the plains, the larger rivers are sluggish and have but few-
tributaries — these even being exhausted in the dry season.
At the change of each monsoon, however, torrents of rain
descend, which cause them to overflow their banks, and widely
inundate the level country. On the subsidence of these waters,
the intense heat of the sun, acting on the surface left exposed,
produced a noxious and fatal malaria. So deadly is the
pestilence in some seasons, that the Malabar coolies, as well
as the native peasantry, betake themselves to precipitate flight.^
It can scarcely be a matter for surprise, then, that the
animals subjected to these unfavourable influences should
experience their evil effects ; indeed, it has more than once
been observed that the outbreak of pestilential malarious
fevers in mankind has been coincident with epizootics of
anthrax and kindred plagues in the lower creatures. From
their constant exposure at all seasons, the cattle in Ceylon,
both those employed in agriculture and on the roads, are
subject, according to Mr. Tennent, to the most devastating
murrains, which sweep them away by thousands. So frequent
is the recurrence of these calamities, and so extended their
ravages, that they exercise a serious influence over the com-
mercial interests of the colony, by reducing the facilities of
agriculture, and augmenting the cost of carriage during the
most critical periods of the coffee season. What the nature
of the bovine malady may be has not yet, to my knowledge,
been determined by any competent authority. One would be
inclined to pronounce it an anthracoid disease, or the Cattle

1 A curious remark has been made with regard to one of these rivers— the
Mahawelliganga, a few miles from Kandy. During the deadly season, after the
subsidence of the rains, the jungle fever generally attacks one face of the hills
through which it winds, leaving the opposite side entirely exempted, as if the
poisonous vapour, being carried by the current of air, affected only those aspects
against which it directly impinged ( Tennent, op. cit. ). A similar fact has been noted
by Mr. Bates, with regard to the tributaries of the Amazons in South America : ' In
certain places on the banks of these, intermittent fevers prevail, as they do on all
those affluents of the Amazons which have clear, dark waters and slow currents.
The incidence of this endemic is somewhat remarkable, for it exists on one side of
the Andirdminm, where the land is high and rocky, and not on the other, which is
low and swampy.'— ' The Naturalist on the Amazons,' vol. i. p. 284.

Period from A.D. 1815 to A.D. 1830. 61

Plague ; but the same distinguished writer informs us that a
similar disorder, which he thinks is probably ' peripneumonia,'
frequently carries off the cattle in Assam and other hill
countries on the continent of India ; 'and,' he adds, ' there, as in
Ceylon, the inflammatory symptoms in the lungs and throat,
and the internal derangement and external eruptive appear-
ances, seem to indicate that the disease is a feverish influenza,
attributable to neglect and exposure in a moist and variable
climate, and that its prevention might be hoped for, and the
cattle preserved, by the simple expedient of more humane
and considerate treatment, especially by affbrding them cover
at night.'

It also appears that cows from i^^ngland do not thrive in
Ceylon, but soon droop and become sickly. Horses are more
liable to disease than in England, particularly to inflammation
of the bowels ; and their power of sustaining fatigue is much
less than in cold countries— indeed, they are not deemed
capable of enduring above one half the labour that horses
usually perform in high latitudes. Neither do dogs, particu-
larly greyhounds, bear removal from England to Ceylon, as
they soon sicken and die ; many expire during the first year
after they arrive, and few outlive the second. The lungs and
liver are reported to be the organs which chiefly suffer in the
dog. The progeny of imported dogs are likewise extremely
liable to disease, and difficult to rear ; but dogs of the native
breed are hardy and very prolific. Poultry, including turkeys,
geese, ducks, and common fowls, are occasionally liable to
disease, which carries off great numbers of them. The disease
is sometimes confined to turkeys and common fowls ; at other
times geese and ducks are also aff'ected. Nothing is known
respecting the nature of this malady ; the animals which are
seized generally die suddenly. 'Dissection has hitherto
thrown no light upon the proximate cause of the disease ; we
are equally ignorant of the remote cause, and how far certain
states of the air occasion the mortality. The disease prevails
in hot dry weather, as well as during the existence of a moist
cool atmosphere.'^ The same writer, when alluding to the

1 Tenncnt. Op. cil. vol. ii. p. 152.

62

History of Animal Plagues.

peculiar malady designated 'beriberi,' which attacks the human
species, says that horses and dogs are sometimes liable to a
paralytic affection of the extremities, and that he never knew
of any recovering.^ And it would appear that that country
is no more favourable to camels than it is to the other domestic
animals, as attempts to domesticate them have hitherto failed,
owing to their dying of ulcers in the feet, ' attributed to the too
great moisture of the roads at certain seasons.'

Mr. Baker,^ in describing his farming operations at Newera
Ellia — a district in Ceylon — tells us how, at the commence-
ment, ' an epidemic appeared among the cattle, and twenty-six
fine bullocks died within a few days ; five Australian hor.ses
died during the first year. . . Even the natives are decimated
at certain seasons by the most virulent fevers and dysentery.
These diseases generally prevail to the greatest extent during
the dry season . . . months pass away without a drop of rain
or a cloud upon the sky. Every pool and tank is dried up ;
the rivers forsake their banks, and a trifling stream trickles
over the sandy bed. Thus all the rotten wood, dead leaves,
and putrid vegetation brought down by the torrent during the
wet season are left upon the dried bed to infect the air with
miasma. ... In a jungle-covered country like Ceylon, diseases
of the most malignant character are harboured in these dense
and undisturbed tracts, which year after year reap a pestilen-
tial harvest from the thinly-scattered population. Cholera,
dysentery, fever, and small-pox all appear in their turn, and
annually sweep away whole villages.' And another author,
when stating that Ceylon produces but few domestic animals,
adds that the horse and sheep are not natives of the island,
and can scarcely be made to thrive there when imported.
' As the expense of importation must be added to the price of
sheep and horses, and as a great proportion, particularly of
the former, die on being landed in the island, these animals
are in consequence much dearer here than in any other part
of India. Sheep sometimes fetch ten and even twenty times
the price they do on the opposite coast of Coromandel.'"

1 Teunctt, p. 184. - Eight Years' Wanderings in Ceylon.

3 Pcrcival. The Island of Ceylon. London, 1802, p. 283.

Period from A.D. 1815 to A.D. 1830. 63

A.D. 1 8 17. Diseases among men and animals were more
than usually prevalent during a long and damp winter, partly
in consequence of the weather, but more so, perhaps, because
of the scarcity and bad quality -of the food. Marasmus and
dropsy, as well as what is designated ' rot,' affected animals in
many countries, as in the preceding year.

In Scotland ' sheep-rot ' was wide-spread and fatal. ' The
year 1817 was again very wet, rather more so than the pre-
ceding one, and the average temperature of the season was
several degrees higher than the other, which produced a very
abundant growth of grass in the months of September and
October ; the ultimate consequence of which was, that one of
the greatest fatalities of rot followed to which the memory of
man bears evidence.' ^

' In Ireland, during the early part of the year, there was,
in many places, a great mortality among horses ; but it was to
be attributed rather to starvation than to disease.'^

In the department of the Moselle, France, a very destruc-
tive epizooty, caused by bad forage, broke out. Those animals
which recovered suffered much from debility and emaciation,
and seeing the great scarcity of good provender, the veterinary
surgeon of .the department, M. Collaine, had recourse to an
expedient which was attended with great success, as it was
the means of saving many herds and flocks. He recom-
mended that all the old, worn-out, or useless animals should
be killed, and their flesh cut up into thin slices, salted or
smoked, to preserve it, and afterwards to be made into soup,
which was to be mixed with herbs or roots of various kinds,
and thickened with flour or meal. This was to be given
to the debilitated ruminants in small but often repeated
quantities.3 A similar malady to the above caused much
anxiety in Piedmont.^

An epizooty among pigs appeai-ed in Germany. It was

1 Fairbairn. Treatise on the Cheviot and Black-faced Sheep.

* Harly. Sketch of Contagious Fever.

^ Collaiiie. Du Marasme Epizootique, etc., et de I'emploi des Matieres Animal
pour restaurer les lierljivores. IVIetz, 1817.

* Luciano. Osservazioni relative alle Infermita de'Bovini, etc. Turin, 1819.

64 History of Animal Plagues.

I

described as epizootic gastritis {inagenseuche)} In the month
of November an epizooty of malignant bronchitis raged
among horses at Versailles.^ At Wurtembcrg, in the month of
May, a curious outbreak of rheumatic paralysis of the tail
{stcrzsciicJie) occurred among cattle. 'There has recently
shown itself among cattle a somewhat general, but not
dangerous disease, which has been named the ' tail-worm ; '
from which disease three, four, or five joints of the tail appear
paralyzed. If you hold up the other portion of the tail
horizontally, the paralyzed end falls by its own weight into
a perpendicular position. The .skin is at the same, time
swollen, and feels like soft tanned leather. This disease of
the tail is cured by applying a counter-irritant to the diseased
portion ; for instance, by making an incision through the
skin, and introducing some irritant as pepper, or burning the
place with a red-hot iron, or dressing it with muriate of
antimony, and covering it afterwards with a resinous plaster.'^
Epizootic ekzema reigned during this year in Austria, from
the spring-time until the autumn ; in low damp localities the
feet were much affected, and in many places it was complicated
with contagious pleuro-pneumonia. Anthrax was very pre-
valent on the mountains at the same time.* At a later period
it (ekzema) appeared in Bavaria, and in the next year it seems
to have been pretty general in many provinces of Germany
In 1819 it was in France. D'Arboval says : ' In 1819, in the
department of the Oi.se, this disease presented some remark-
able peculiarities. Besides the symptoms which are common
to it and other affections of the same nature, there was mani-
fested at the same time as these a violent inflammation of
nearly all the parts of the head ; the tongue became extremely
swollen, and was protruded sometimes three or four inches
from the mouth ; the glands placed under the tongue were
enlarged, and swelled until they were not unfrequcntly the

1 Binch. Zeitschr. fUr Thierhcilkunde, vol. ii.

2 Journal Pratique de Med. Vc^tdrinaire, vol. iii.
nViirtcmberg. Verordn. p. 112. .

^ Korber Handbuch der Seuchen, etc., der Hauslhiere. Leipzig, ib^S, p. 195-
Op. cit. p. 165. Brosche. Die Maul-und-Kiauenseuche der
Hausthiere. Dresden, 1820.

Period from A.D. 1815 to A.D. 1830. 65

size of an apple ; the submaxillary space itself became tumefied
and often finished by having an abscess ; the disease, how-
ever, was but slight in many beasts. Pouchet and Potelle,
who have observed it, do not speak of lesions of the feet, and
it appears that this symptom has not been present. Finally,
this malady qualified as epizootic, and which has affected
horses and other monodactyles in the departments of the
Eure, Pas-de-Calais, the Somme, the Oise, the Seine-et-
Marne, the Seine, and the Seine-et-Oise, with the blackened
membrane of the tongue, the purple-red patches at its tip and
on its sides, the phlyctenia, and the ulcerations on its inferior
surface was, perhaps, only aphtha ; it was certainly an in-
dex of irritation of the gastro-intestinal mucous membrane.'^
This epizooty, as will be seen, travelled from east to west.

This year is notable from the great outbreak of cholera at
Jessore, which destroyed so many human lives. It was pre-
ceded by excessively bad seasons, which did much injury to the
grain crops. To comparative pathologists this epidemy will be
interesting, as during its prevalence the lower animals were
much affected by disease. With regard to the weather, Annes-
leysays: 'There can be no doubt that very unusually disturbed
seasons prevailed at Madras and its dependencies for several
years previous to the appearance of cholera. I shall merely
observe, in general terms^ and in a few words, that the years
1815-16 were extremely hot. Strong southerly and westerly
winds prevailed, and very little rain fell. The year 18 17 was
extremely hot, with variable winds, chiefly from the south
and west, and a very great fall of rain, with thunder and
lightning. The year 18 18 was similar to the preceding one.
There were excessively heavy falls of rain, continuing from
July to January, a great deal of thunder and lightning, and a
severe hurricane in October.'" In Bengal Jameson i-eports :
* The changes which have taken place in the course and suc-
cession of the seasons within the last few years, in every part
of Bengal and its dependencies, have been so striking, as to
have not only attracted the notice of attentive observers, but

^ Hurlrel (TArlioval. Op. cit. vol. i. p. ii6.

* Annesley. Researches on tlie Diseases of India, p. 499.

5

66

History of Animal Plagues.

to have become a frequent topic of conversation.' Mr. Tytler,
who was a witness to the outbreak of the epidemy at Jessore,
thinks it was occasioned by bad rice, which was damaged
during the wet weather. ' After the wet season, that is during
the autumn months, the rice, which they call in India Ause,
Ballum, Patcherry, Mungy, Satte, and Rarha, and in English,
coarse rice, cargo and yellow Patha, was swollen, and of a
black, red or yellow colour, and exhaled a putrid odour.
Besides the grain itself, the husk was dense, thick, oleaginous,
and poisonous, which condition the Indians term Kura and
Kun. Very many animals were severely ill from the use of
this grain.' ^

At the commencement of cholera, domesticated fowls
became ill and died. Mr, Tytler observed them have vertigo,
retchings, falling on their sides, and finally dying in con-
vulsions. It is to be remembered, however, that these creatures
had been feeding on diseased or ergoted rice. Other animals
suffered. Searle says : ' I shall now mention, as coming under
my own immediate observation, and not undeserving notice,
as I cannot help connecting it with the cause of my attack, a
remarkable coincidence of what may be supposed atmospheric
deterioration in some way, at this time, that, for a week
before, there had been a singular epidemic disease among the
poultry in my compound, and in the neighbourhood, not of
the chicken-pox character, to which poultry are subject, but
poultry in a state of apparently the most perfect health were
suddenly seized, drooped, and died in an hour or two,

' One of the dead ducks, the day before, was brought for
my examination, when I found the whole of the inner coat of
the intestines, from the gizzard downwards, in a high state of
inflammation, and filled with mucus. I observed to the
servants at the time that it had died of cholera, and warned
them to take care of themselves. Connecting this with the
fact, not unfrequently noticed, that during the epidemic
visitations of cholera, a like mortality has prevailed among
cattle— atmospheric deterioration as a cause may be fairly

1 Tytler. Remarks upon Morbus Oryzeus, or Disease occasioned by the Employ-
ment of Noxious Rice. Calcutta, 1820.

Period from A.D. 1815 to A.D. 1830. 67

inferred. Mr. Chalmers remarks, at folio 142 of the Madras
Report : " It is a curious fact, that in the towns near the hills,
where the epidemic was so fatal, a disease occurred among the
cattle, which kept pace with, and often exceeded in mortality,
that of the human species." Dr. Ranken, too, observes in
No. 74 of the "Medical and Physical Journal": " At Rajputana,
during the epidemic prevalence of the disease, the brute
creation did not altogether escape the sickliness of the period ;
many camels, and goats in particular, having died of violent
diarrhoeas and other ailments." The collector, also, of this
district (Madura) authorizes me to assert, that in numerous
instances, and from various parts of the collectorate, the like
was not only reported to him, but urged by many of the ryots
or farmers, as a plea for the remission of their kists or revenue
dues. And the same I also heard was the case in the
Coimbature district.'^ Jameson says : ' It was observed in
many places, that an unusual mortality occurred amongst
black cattle, sheep, and other domestic animals. Thus, in the
Backergunge district, cattle had the disorder, and were cured
by opium and other remedies found most serviceable in the
human species. Cows when seized shed their young. So in
Tipperah, great numbers of horned cattle and sheep were
seized with vomiting and convulsions, and suddenly expired.
In Delhi dogs died rapidly, and more horses than usual were
carried off by the dry gripes. (In this city, a curious thing
was that large swarms of flies, which had infested the place
before the breaking out of the epidemic, wholly disappeared
during its prevalence, and returned as it withdrew. This might
be owing to the cold, sharp, westerly wind then blowing.) In
the Rajputana force, and throughout the whole of the Jeypore
and Nagpore territories, the season was remarkably fatal to
camels ; and in the centre division domestic animals of all
descriptions died in great numbers : but, in the latter instance,
the mortality might be ascribed to want of proper care and
food. At Sumbhulpore, an elephant had every symptom of
cholera, and was cured by brandy and laudanum. But the
affection of brutes was by no means general. In many

1 SearU. Cholera, p. 43.

5—2

^History of Animal Plagues.

districts the lower order of animals are expressly stated to
have enjoyed their usual health.' ^

Mr. Orton^ says that 'it has been observed in Bengal, that
colic was uncommonly prevalent among horses during the
epidemic' The disease in the horse termed " gripes " (which
is very common in India) seems to bear a perfect analogy to
cholera. It is equally sudden in its attack, rapid and
dangerous in its course, short in its duration, and when
recovery takes place, it is equally quick as in this epidemic.
The disease is attended with watery purging, etc' And
Mr. Barraud, a surgeon in the cavalry, avers that his regiment
lost more horses than men during the cholera. At Macassar,
cholera was reported to have been seen in cattle and dogs,
and at Amboyna, a monkey was observed to be so affected.^

In France, in the month of May, twenty-three persons were
bitten by a rabid wolf, and out of this number no fewer than
fourteen died, despite all remedial efforts.*

Schlatter^ witnessed an outbreak of bilious fever among
horses in Schafifhausen and its neighbourhood, and also in the
Grand Duchy of Baden, during the late summer of this year.
He supposed it to be due to the animals eating too freely of
the rich clover grown in these places. Tscheulin also describes
this epizooty.

A.D. 1818. Pestilence in mankind, in the form of Asiatic
cholera in every part of India, in Ceylon, and in the
Mauritius ; and yellow fever in the United States, the South
American continent, and the West Indian islands. In August,
the cholera reached Bombay, having taken about a year to
cross the great Indian delta * transported from place to place,
as in cases of ordinary infection.

The summer was very hot, and, as a consequence, anthracoid
affections were somewhat common among animals in many

'^Jameson. On Cholera. Calcutta, 1820.

- Orton. The Epidemic Cholera of India. London, 1831. See also an
interesting paper on this subject by Veterinary Surgeon Hodgson, in the
Veterinarian Tor 1853.

^ Hamburg Magazin, vol. xv. p*. 427. /. Marshall. Op. cit.
Trolliet. Traile de la Rage.

^Schlatter. Der Thierarzt, etc. SchafThausen, 1834.

" Government Report on Epidemic Cholera in India.

Period from A.D. 1815 to A.D. 1830. 69

countries. In the Maixhes of Brandenburg, for instance,
there was a great epizooty of anthrax, and many people
suffered through contagion. 'In the summer of 18 18, there
occurred in the districts of Brandenburg a wildly spreading
disease, which began at Spandau and extended as far as the
Elbe. This was the "Milzbrand" in all its forms, and it
appeared in the most diverse kinds of animals. It commenced
about the middle of June and lasted until autumn. Cattle
suffered most, horses next— and chiefly those at grass. The
flocks of sheep were seldom attacked, and among swine, so
far as I know, the disease was not very damaging. Very
serious, however, was the loss among stags, and particularly
the larger game, of which a great quantity was kept in the
royal forest of Falkenhaten ; the number was reduced, accord-
ing to the forester, from eight hundred to less than two
hundred by the disease. Of the herds of cattle in many
places, one-half died ; in other places, two-thirds ; but this
only occurred when the animals were at grass — the stall-fed
beasts usually escaped. As for the causes of this disease, it is
to be observed that the summer was remarkable for intense
heat and drought, while in the spring the meadows and
pastures had been considerably flooded.

' Cattle were compelled to seek their food in what were, at
other times, marshy pastures, because no herbage grew else-
where in consequence of the drought. Besides this, there was
a scarcity of water, through the wells and ditches having
become dried up, or reduced to a small quantity of blackish
water. However, in regard to this circumstance it must be
mentioned, that in those places where they were well supplied
with water, the mortality was no less. There is another point,
too, which must not be omitted, and to which many herd-
owners laid great blame ; it was that, after the beautiful
warm weather in May had pushed the vegetation very forward,
on the ist of June a night frost came and nipped it ; there
was a complete failure in the rye, which was then in bloom,
and this was noticed more particularly in the low-lying fields.
It was supposed that the cattle in eating this frost-bitten grass,
laid the foundation for the disease ; and it was sought to

70 History of Animal Plagues.

prove this from the circumstance that those cattle kept in
stables^ and fed on hay made from the upland pastures, or
green forage from other localities, remained unharmed, as it is
well-known that the high-lying fields seldom suffer from
night-frosts. Yet this conclusion was not altogether correct,
as the disease developed itself in various localities and at
various times. The animals kept in buildings — cows as
well as horses— only became affected here and there, when, as
was always the case, they were not given meadow-hay to eat ;
the few exceptions — which were principally among horses,
lead me to the conclusion that they had been bitten by
gadflies [bremseii) which had shortly before been feeding on
diseased cattle. The varieties of the disease were numerous.'^
In the province of Belluno, Italy, a disease of the same nature
— gangrenous sore-throat {angina gangrenosa) — appeared.
Bottani says : ' In the month of July, on the mountain of Gal
in the commune of Limana, district of Belluno, malignant sore
throat, or bovine esquinancia, manifested itself among the cattle
depastured there, and continued until September. The
attack was limited to the cattle on this mountain. This
inflammation of the throat and fauces was remarkable for the
great facility with which it passed into a state of gangrene,
the animal perishing soon after it had shown symptoms of the
infection, no matter how quickly and diligently its cure was
attempted. The angina maligna was manifested by a
vehement fever, and an intense heat in the mouth and about
the fauces, great tumefaction of all the textures of the oral
aperture, and sometimes this swelling was manifest externally;
the cow lost its milk, and this was frequently one of the
symptoms announcing the commencement of the malady ;
much dulness was observed, a total loss of appetite and
suspension of rumination, a harshness of the skin, and a dull
melancholy look of the eyes. The breath was foul, the pulse
quick and sinking ; the beast seemed anxious ; there was
grinding of the teeth ; a purulent discharge from the nostrils ;
great prostration of strength ; diarrhoea, and oftentimes
prolapsus of the rectum, which was looked upon as a sure sign
' Timer. Casper's Wochenschrift, 1836, p. 250.

Period from A.D. 1815 to A.D. 1830. 71

of approaching death. On a post-morteni examination of the
dead animals, there was remarked inflammation of the palate
and the apex of the tongue, gangrene of the fauces and tonsils,
and also of the larynx and pharynx, inflammation to a greater
or less extent in the trachea, the bronchial tubes, and the
lungs; in all there was inflammation of the intestines and
degeneration of the spleen, and also inflammation of the
bladder ; the flesh appeared inflamed, and at times seemed to
have acquired a dark Uvid colour. As a rule, if much care was
not taken in making these post-mortem investigations, and in
avoiding the use of the flesh as food, much danger was
incurred in the liability to anthrax or carbuncle. As an
example of this, it was certified that Joseph Leson of the
commune of Limana, who was entrusted with the opening of
some dead beasts, incautiously ate some of the flesh of the
same, and there quickly came an anthrax or carbuncle on
his right arm, which resisted all remedies and compromised

his life Thirty cows died from the subtle infection, the

greater part of which were not attempted to be cured ; two
hundred slightly infected were preserved by remedial means
and close attention, and nearly three hundred suspected
beasts were mercifully saved from its ravages by extreme
precautions. By these measures was the malady arrested in
its birthplace, that is to say, on the mountain of Gal in the
commune of Limana, and before it had time to extend itself
The too luxuriant and stimulating nature of the herbage
which grew on the fertile mountain, the dryness of the sultry
summer, all of which was stimulating and irritating to them,
together with the water they drank from a very cold spring
half-way up the mountain, to which they were always
running ; as well as the position of the mountain itself, which
was so enclosed by others that at mid-day there was not
a breath of air stirring— all these were deemed to be the
principal causes of this contagious epizooty {epizoozia
contagiosa):^ In some communes of the same province, cattle
brought from the Tyrol suffered very much from pneumonia.^
In England, the summer and autumn were very hot and

^Bottani. Op. cit. vol. viii. p. 350- '

72

History of Animal Plagues.

dry, and mushrooms and other fungi had been remarkably
plentiful.

Veterinary Surgeon Wilkinson, of Newcastle-on-Tyne, in a
work which is not at present accessible to me, speaks of
'influenza' in horses being epizootic this year.^ Canine
rabies was also remarked as very prevalent.^

During this and the following year, ' distemper ' in dogs
was unusually common in Lyons and its neighbourhood ; and
it is asserted by those who had the opportunity of observing
it, that the rarefaction and heat of the atmosphere rendered
it unusually malignant.'^

A.D. 1 8 19. Great storms and cosmical perturbations were
observed over nearly the whole world, and epidemic diseases
committed great havoc among the populations of many
countries. Blood-rain and red-mould, which coloured animal
and vegetable substances, caused great alarm in Padua, where
it revived the ancient superstitious belief with regard to
signacula.*

That everlasting scourge of Asia — myriads of locusts— began
to generate around the Caspian Sea, and to spread themselves
in immense shoals towards the west, devastating the Trans-
Caucasian and Russian provinces in their way. In the next
year they had reached the Crimea,^ and in the following
years their ravages increased as they still came westward)
until, in 1823, they had passed the Danube, and, devouring all
vegetation before them, entered Poland and Prussia in 1827."^
Scurvy was prevalent in mankind at the same time.

Influenza was very prevalent and fatal among horses in
England in the early part of the year. Mi". Field ^ of London
makes the following entry for February :

' In the beginning of this, and latter part of last month, a
highly inflammatory and very prevalent disease occurred.
The weather very changeable, but the disease not likely to be

^ Wilkinson. On Catarrhal Affections in Horses. Newcastle, 1818.
^ Forster. Op. cit. p. 178. ^ Hurtrel cPArboval. Op. cit.

* Setle. Mem. sul Arrosimento Straordinario di Alcune Sostanze Alimentose.
Venice, 1829. ° Lee. Medical and Physical Journal, vol. Iv. p. 465.

" Rilter. Erdkunde von Asien.

^y. Field. Posthumous Extracts from Veterinary Records, p. 25.

Period from A.D. 1815 to A.D. 1830.

induced by it. The following were the symptoms : Quick,
full pulse ; moist tongue, but feverish smell and red appear-
ance ; eye much inflamed in some cases, in others extremely
dull and heavy, and eyelids closed, indicating severe pain in
the head. These symptoms were not preceded by symptoms
of the first stage of fever, nor were they accompanied by
quickness in breathing. In some cases, tremendous swellings
in different parts of the body, especially of the legs. It was
epizootic, but not contagious ; as it seemed to attack alter-
nately most of the horses in any one stable when it first made
its appearance — instance Major S.'s five horses, Colonel P.'s
three. These horses were attacked in a rather milder form —
at least, most of them ; were vigorously treated in the first
instance by bleeding and purging, and were all immediately
relieved, except the two latter of Colonel P.'s. C. G., of Oxford
Street, suffered very much, having no less than seven or eight
horses ill at once ; but they were horses extremely fat, ple-
thoric, and lax, so that an effusion of blood took place in the
cellular membrane of the legs, etc., and severe inflammation
of the lungs. . . . On examination of two, which died in one
night, the following appearances were observed : Dreadful
inflammation of the right side of the heart, which was almost
black ; lungs excessively red, but light ; pericardium con-
taining from two to three pints of red serum ; stomach, at its
most depending part, had a large black spot, as if about to
slough, appearing as the stomach of a patient dying from the
taking of oxalic acid : in both these cases the same appear-
ances. Mucous membrane of intestines pale, but containing
thin faeces, interspersed with flakes like sloughing membrane.
. . . Other horses are now suff"ering from this disease, the
symptoms of which are : very quick pulse ; tongue black ;
mouth containing frothy saliva ; eyes very red ; breathing
not much quickened, unless just previous to dissolution ; no
restlessness ; blood withdrawn with great difficulty, and when
coagulated extremely firm, and showing a thick buffy coat.
Eleven horses ' (in his practice) ' died of this disease : the ter-
mination in one was abscess of the lungs. Three or four had
inflamed stomach, with spots of extravasation. Thirty horses

74 History of Animal Plagues.

had attacks ; but the latter cases were milder, probably on
account of the immediate and vigorous treatment had recourse
to when such symptoms were manifest.'

This successful treatment of epizootics when they begin to
decline, is an old fallacy which will be noticed hereafter.

According to Veterinary Surgeon Moorcroft,^ in this year
there was a general and fatal epizooty among the Cashmere
domestic goats, by which the ' pashm shal,' or fleece for manu-
facturing shawls, was immensely increased in price.

In Canada, the Duke of Richmond, then Governor-General,
lost his life from the bite of a tame fox, which had suddenly
become affected with rabies. The extraordinary epizooty
among these animals in Germany had considerably increased,
and it was also becoming more extended in Switzerland.
Wirth, in the latter country, writes : ' In the year 1819, there
appeared a remarkable disease among foxes, which spread
itself over the greater part of Germany and Switzerland,
and continued in an intermittent manner until the end of
the third decennium of this century. It commenced in the
year 1819 (?). In the Cantons of Thurgau, St. Gallen, and
Zurich, it was frequent, and appears to have been communi-
cated from the foxes to dogs and cats, and now and again to
the larger domestic animals.' ^

Kochlin has also some comments on this strange outbreak :
' On the 20th of August, we hear that two women had been
attacked and bitten by a mad cat in the village of Hongy.
Some time previously a fox had bitten this cat, and from that
time it had been no longer healthy. In the same week, a fox
sprang upon the udder and tail of a cow when at pasture, and
a strong man with difficulty drove it away. Individual foxes
were found dead in the neighbouring wood, and others which
approached dwellings and men were killed. When they were
followed they were not loth to show a disposition to defend
themselves, and had even attacked dogs, cats, and other
domestic animals. Under date of the 15th September, the
Sanitary College had received intelligence that a dog, bitten

1 Moorcroft and Trebeck. Travels in Cashmere and Thibet, vol. ii. p. 167.
■■^ Wirlfi. Archiv. Schweiz. thierarzte, vol. vi.

Period from A.D. 1815 to A.D. 1830.

by a fox in the village of Riesbach, had been affected with
rabies and killed. Another dog, also bitten by a fox, was
still healthy. On dissection of the dead foxes, there was
found inflammation and swelling of the liver ; an accumula-
tion of bile, and the intestines filled with food. According to
a report of the 27th October, a fox came to the village of
Wipkingen ; it was followed, and as it appeared to be vicious,
it was also killed. On the 30th of October, a cow, which in
the previous month of August had been attacked and bitten
in the nose by a fox while in the meadow at the village of
Nurenstorf, sickened. The symptoms were : quivering, con-
vulsions, and trembling of the whole body; a discharge of
mucus from the mouth ; loud bellowing, and sudden paralysis.
In Nieder-Riiti, a fox stole into a barn, where it was shot. It
had a very diseased appearance. On the 20th of November,
the official, Kyburg, reports that a man in the village of
Ottikon had killed a fox which had attacked boys, and that
he and his household had eaten the flesh and sold the skin.
At Unter-Illnau, a woman found a dead fox ; at about the
same time came in reports of attacks on men by mad cats,
and injuries by their teeth and claws. According to a report
of the 28th September, a fox at Weiningen attacked a girl
who was fetching water from a well, and tore her clothes in
several places. The girl remained unhurt, and the fox was
killed. Another fox attacked the dog of a coachman between
Wallisellen and Rieden, and bit him in three places. In this
and the following years similarly affected animals showed
themselves in the neighbourhood of the Canton of Aargau.'i

In the district of the higher Danube, in Bavaria, this strange
epizooty was also witnessed, according to Frohlich, who writes:
' I must first remark that in this year, after a sudden great
heat in the summer, whereby several people were struck down
in the harvest-field and some of them died, a rather severe
autumn set in, with damp and cold ; and following on the
malignant fever of the summer, there was now an inflammatory
nervous malignant epizootic fever among the horned cattle of
this neighbourhood — a kind of spleen {mils), or rather blood

Kochlin. Op. cit. p. 7.

1

76

History of Animal Plagties.

disease. At the same time broke out the disease among
foxes and cats, especially wild cats {Feldkatzen). On the
i6th of October, 1819, a man brought his son, a lad of about
four and three-quarter years, to me. He had been bitten on
the upper right eyelid, about ten o'clock in the morning, by a
diseased fox which had entered the house, and which the
father had afterwards killed. The district doctor dressed the
wound with lapis mfernalis, as if the child had been bitten by
a rabid animal, and applied an ointment of cantharides. The
boy remains until the present time well, and free from all
symptoms of hydrophobia.' Some other accounts are given of
people who were bitten in a similar manner, and of cows
which were wounded, became rabid, and died, and then we
have the following : ' I must add that I, as well as many other
trustworthy authorities, have seen, followed, and also some-
times overtaken and killed, during the summer and autumn,
half-dead and dying foxes in the neighbourhood of cattle
pastures ; and not only in thpse districts where the disease in
question has been communicated to cattle, but also in other
districts in which not a single case of hydrophobia occurred,
although it could not but have happened that these foxes
mixed freely with the cattle by night. This must undoubtedly
have been the case upon the Alps, in the neighbourhood of
Sonthofen, where, in the later parts of the summer and
autumn, several diseased foxes were seen ; they appeared to
be so mad that they ran round the people who met them, and
they were killed and buried. Not a single case of rabies
occurred at this time, or for a whole year afterwards, among
the cattle on the Alps.'^

Another account is as follows : ' Sad news comes from the
neighbourhood of Spessart, and especially from Rothenburg ;
foxes, cats, and other animals affected with rabies have been
met there. The imperial physician and the professor of the
Veterinary School were immediately sent there. Travellers
who yesterday arrived from Aschenaffenburgh relate that
many people there hesitated to eat venison. The reason of
this outbreak is not yet known, and one waits for information.

' Hmke. Zeitschr. rUi- die Slaatsarzneik, vol. x. p. l8.

Period from A.D. 1815 to A.D. 1830. 77

Many dogs, cats, and other animals have already been killed,
and one woman has died from the bite of a cat. Soon after-
wards, on the loth of November, the Government authorities
of Hanau, being informed that in the neighbourhood of
Steinal rabies raged among foxes, caused a general hunt
throughout the district, with instructions to bury all the dead
foxes the huntsmen found or killed, three feet deep in the
ground, and in their skins. The Grand-Ducal Government
published an edict under date the 23rd November, as follows :
" Information has been received that in Bierstein, at Kirch-
bracht, a mad fox has been killed ; that foxes in Ekharterod
have bitten two men, and in Saalmiinster one ox ; that the
foxes in Josgrund show no dread of mankind, but allow
themselves to be killed by the same ; that in the same place
several dogs and cats have been mad, and even a constantly
chained dog ; and as it has been truly reported that on the
past Saturday, at Leichenrod, a fox which appeared diseased
and did not avoid people, though it did not attack them, has
been killed," etc.

' Later, the newspapers relate that even in New York and
Russia quite similar and simultaneous outbreaks had occurred
— namely, that in the district of Sikrash and Rabinowitz many
men had been bitten by mad wolves, and whole families had
died ; while in Wittepsk the people had the imprudence to
eat the flesh of bitten cows. An old acquaintance writes to
me from Steinau : " In this district the first traces of this
disease showed itself in the forest of Marjop, which borders, on
Bavaria, and where, especially in Spessart, it has been parti-
cularly prevalent. At Michaelmas there was seen a fox, appa-
rently quite healthy, at a mill in the vicinity of Marjop, in
broad daylight. It entered the house as if it belonged to it ;
defended itself there and in the courtyard like a baited
badger, though attacked by two large dogs^ who did not like
this stranger as a lodger. It was subsequently killed by them
in the neighbouring meadow, after it had taken to flight. At
brief intervals several foxes were destroyed in the same place :
one by day, which had attacked a chained dog and fought
him bravely ; and two at night, one of which had crept into

78

History of Animal Plagues.

the house through a hole in the door, which had been made
for the entry and exit of the poultry. One of the most rabid
of these creatures, in the middle of October, rushed upon a
herd of cattle, and fastened itself so fiercely upon a two-year-
old cow, that this beast tossed it high in the air. Until the
present time it has been eagerly argued that this disease
among foxes is the true rabies. A dog which broke away
from its chain at Marjop, and which probably had been
bitten by one of the foxes killed in the locality three weeks
previously, bit two persons before it could be killed ; but this
event does not seem to be so important, because the wounded
people are up to this moment in good health. More con-
vincing, however, was the undoubted appearance of rabies in
the ox which was injured on the 13th of October, and which
became affected on the 23rd of November. Since then, in the
forest here, and in the neighbouring di-strict of Altengronau,
several foxes have been killed : one on the highway, close to
the town ; another at Schliichtern, v/hich had the audacity to
enter the crowd at the annual fair, and was found among the
peasants. Most of them are mangey ; at least, the one I saw
at Schluchtern was so in a high degree. It is very strange
that the disease should have spread by degrees towards the
Vogelsberg, while the same malady had been previously
noticed in Franconia and in Spessart. Hence it appears that
it has extended itself by the contagion of the bites. From
Aura one writes that in many places in Spessart and the
neighbouring forests, as well as in this neighbourhood, a
disease has shown itself among the foxes ; the foxes have also
bitten a cow and two oxen in the pastures at Heiligenbrlick,
and these have really been seized with rabies and shot. The
chief medical inspector, sent by the authorities, had visited
Frammersbach and Rottenbuch, and convinced himself that
rabies had broken out among the foxes. At Mernes three
dogs were bitten, which also became affected, and these died
or were shot. Several foxes were found dead in the fields.
A friend writes to me under date of the ist January, 1820,
and says : " There were many mangey foxes in our vicinity
(Rosbach) from 18 14 to 18 17; they were most numerous

Period from A.D. 1815 to A.D. 1830.

where, in following the course of armies in a time of famine,
they were able to feed on the dead bodies left exposed after
battles and other events. In the last two years I have
scarcely found two cases, out of about one hundred and fifty,
in which there were not some traces of an eruption towards
or about the tail. The disease, which in the last year has
been frequently noticed in Spessart and Hanau, has not
attacked a single fox in my immediate neighbourhood. In
the village of Hassdorf, about twelve miles hence, one was
killed which had entered and wounded several dogs ; but the
injuries had no serious results.' ^

A.D. 1820. Indian cholera raging in Eastern Asia.

' Rot ' in sheep was somewhat destructive in France and
Germany.^

From 1820 to 1822, the Cattle Plague was very prevalent
in Siberia.^

In England, according to Blaine,* rabies was very frequent
among dogs, and for the succeeding three or four years con-
tinued to be alarmingly common ; after which it moderated
for a few seasons.

In Switzerland, the ' rabies vulpina ' was yet in existence,
according to the evidence adduced by Kochlin.s ' In March,'
1820, a man met a fox in the road near Embrach, against which
he had to defend himself with a stick. In Dattikon, a fox bit
a cat and was killed ; the same happened to another fox in
Rachenbulach ; and a third was found dead near Kloten.
Later, a fourth in Fraenstein, a fifth in Embrach, and a sixth
in Hausen, near Ober-Embrach. In the first, they found the
liver black and gangrenous ; in the last, the intestines were
healthy, but the stomach, instead of containing food, was full
of pebbles {Kieselsteine), pine-cones, and hair. Generally
speaking, many foxes showed themselves in that neighbour-
hood, and three, which would not be driven away by stones,

^ Wildungen. Weidmann's Feierabende, vol. vi. p. 95.
Wirth. Op. cit. p. 124.

Haupt. Ueber enige Seuchen krankheiten der Hausthiere in Sibii ien.
Berlin, 1845. Sick. Kritische Beleuchtung und Wurdigung der Europeaischen
Pestkrankheiten fremden Ursprungs, etc., 1822.
* Blaine. Op. cit. p. 99. ^ Kdchlin. Op. cit. p. 11.

8o History of Animal Plagues.

were killed. At the same time, rabies broke out in this and
other localities, among cats, and many people were injured by
them. Under date of the 19th of April, we hear from
Basserstorf, that a fox had been worried by a dog ; that
another had come into the stable belonging to the miller of
that place, and gnawed the harness, and that the miller killed
him. After this, a fox was shot in Ober-Embrach, and on
examining it, they discovered the liver to be corrupt, and an
effusion of bile in the small intestines, as well as a number of
pebbles in the large intestines. In Madlikon, a dead fox was
found. In October, another fox attacked a dog on the Winter-
thur road ; and in November, a dog was bitten by one of these
creatures on the common of Wallishof This fox was killed.'

In the Canton of St. Gallen, Hensler^ reports that this
mysterious epizooty was observed in 1820 ; that it was less
frequent in 1821 and 1822; that in 1823 it re-appeared m a
more extensive manner; and that in 1824 and 1825. fewer
dogs but more foxes and cats became rabid, and cattle were
infected It terminated in 1827. In the years 1819, 1820,
1823 1824, and 1825, it was in the Grand-Duchy of Baden,
and its ravages were more particularly manifested m the

Black Forest.2 . . ^ , • a

AD 1 8'-' I Yellow fever was epidemic in Andalusia and
other parts of Southern Spain ; and Sir William Fellows
asserts that the air, from its stagnant condition, became
so vitiated that its noxious qualities even affected animals

Durino- the heat of the summer, an extensive and fatal
epizooty^'manifested itself among swine in many departments
of France, but particularly in the north ; it was designated
' pleuro-pneumonia,' but in all probability it was what is now
recognised as ' Swine Plague.' Wirth alludes to it as the ery-
sipelas irothla^cf) of swine, and it may be observed that 1 has
hitherto been considered as one of the two forms that anthrax
fever assumes in the pig. Saussol describes it as it appeared
in the neighbourhood of Mazamet (Tarn). It spared neither
age nor sex, fat nor lean. The average number of deaths
was estimated to be, in this locality, one-fifth of every four
I Hensler. Morgenblatt, 1829, p. 1076. Badische Annalen. vol. iii. p. 3°.

Period from A.D. 1815 to A.D. 1830. 8r

hundred animals attacked. The symptoms were : loss of
appetite, intense thirst, dulness, groaning, and a preference
for cold damp places. The second stage was marked by
tympanitis of the abdomen, heat of the skin, constipation,
scanty excretion of urine, laboured breathing, heaving at the
flanks, and a short cough. The eyes were suffused with tears,
and the conjunctival membrane was highly inflamed. These
symptoms developed themselves in the course of twelve hours ;
if there was no abatement of the malady, the third stage
commenced, in which the animals staggered about, and when
they lay down their limbs were outstretched in a spasmodic
manner ; there was gurgling in the throat and symptoms of
rapid sinking ; towards the last, they leant against the wall
or any object near, and if they then fell it was only to die a few
minutes afterwards. Death occurred usually about the third
day, preceded sometimes by convulsions of the face and
extremities. The causes were supposed to be the great heat
of the sun ; a scarcity of water ; feeding on dry plants ; re-
turning home in the evening exhausted, and receiving a large
quantity of food ; then being shut up in ill-ventilated sties, with-
out drink until morning. After death the chest was found filled
with bloody, limpid fluid ; the lungs were inflamed, and the
bronchial tubes filled with sanguineous mucus ; the pleura
was also inflamed and covered with lymph — the diaphragm
covered with petechiae. The intestinal mucous membrane
was also much inflamed, and the brain was covered with a
reddish lymph-like serosity.^ In Bavaria, swine appear to
have perished in large numbers from a similar malady.^ At
Chalamont, in the department of Ain, glossanthrax was
observed and reported upon by Veterinary Surgeon Lami,
who believed it to have been caused by stinking fogs, and the
use of mouldy forage.^

In the country of Cleve, towards the end of the year, an

1 Saussol. Recueil de Med. Voter, vol. xiv. p. 233. See also Didry. De la
Maladie qui a regne Epizootiquement sur les Pores. Paris, 1822. Tiirck. Examen
Critique du Mem. du Millian et de Grave, relative une Maladie des Pores.
Nancy, 1822. ''■Plank. Velerinartopogr. p. 142.

^ Hurtrel (T Arboval. Op. cit. vol, ii. p. 752.

6

82

History of Animal Plagues.

epizooty, contagious in its nature, appeared among cats;
it spread rapidly, and was very fatal in a short time. It
began with loss of appetite, the cats looking as if suffering
from cold, and a great desire to indulge in the warmth of the
sun, or of stoves ; there was great muscular debility, and
there quickly supervened intense thirst, staring of the coat,
watery eyes, and bilious vomiting. All the animals attacked
by this disease died in from twenty-four to forty-eight
hours. There was no doubt as to the contagious character of
the epizooty, for if the healthiest cats came near the diseased,
or if they even went to the places where these had been,
they were not long in showing symptoms of the disease.^

The rabies in foxes appears to have been less prevalent
during this year than in the preceding or subsequent years.
It was observed among these animals in the forest of
Thuringia ; and at J^na^ a young fox, tamed and kept in a
garden, became rabid when chained up, and bit its master.
In the Voralberg, seventeen cows and goats became ill and
died in the interval between May and September, and it was
believed their deaths arose from the bites of rabid foxes.^

An extensive epizooty was observed among dogs in
Northern Siberia during this and the next year, and which was
probably the first appearance of the so-called ' distemper '
that had prevailed in Europe for more than sixty years.
Wrangel, in his ' Expedition to the Polar Sea,' gives a lucid
description of its progress and the effect of its ravages. ' The
disease which, in 1821, attacked the dogs throughout Northern
Siberia did not make its appearance at Kolymsk till a year
later than on the rivers to the west and along the Tchuktche
coast The dog is fully as useful and indispensable a
domestic animal to the settled inhabitant of this country, as
the tame reindeer is to the nomad tribes. We saw a remark-
able instance of this during the terrible sickness which, m the
year 1821, carried off the greater part of these useful animals^
An unfortunate Jukahir family had only two dogs left out of
twenty, and these were just born, and were indeed yet blind.
The mother being dead, the wife of the Jukahir determined
X Ru^t. Magazin, vol. xiv. p. .09. GrUs. Oesterreich. Jahrbuch, 1824.

Pei'iod from A.D. 1815 to A.D. 1830. 83

on nursing the two puppies with her own child, rather than
lose the last remains of their former wealth. She did so, and
was rewarded for it ; for her two nurslings lived, and became
the parents of a new and vigorous race of dogs. In the year
1822, when most of the inhabitants had lost their dogs by the
sickness, they were in a most melancholy condition ; they had
to draw home their own fuel — and both time and strength failed
them in bringing home the fish which had been caught in
distant places ; moreover, whilst thus occupied, the season
passed for fowling and fur-hunting ; and a general and severe
fami ne, in which numbers perished, was the consequence.
Horses cannot be made a substitute : the seventy of the
climate, and the shortness of the summer, make it impossible
to provide sufficient fodder ; the light dog can also move
quickly over the deep snow, in which the heavy horse would
sink. It was once unwisely proposed to forbid the keeping
of dogs on account of the quantity of fish required for their
support, which is thus withdrawn from the food of the
inhabitants. Each sledge of twelve dogs requires daily
from fifty to seventy herrings. But if this measure had been
adopted, so far from increasing the quantity of food at the
command of the inhabitants, it would have deprived them of
one of their chief means of procuring subsistence, as was
clearly proved at the time of this great mortality among the
dogs in 1821 and 1823. This highly injudicious proposal was
happily rejected by the Government. . . . The short summer
of 1 82 1, which to the inhabitants of Nijni Kolymsk had been
marked by so many failures in the produce both of the
fisheries and the chase, was succeeded by a long winter of
suffering. Our own position was a painful one, unable as we
were to relieve the general distress. To the want of provisions
was added a new misfortune, hitherto almost unknown in this
district, namely, a wide-spreading malady among the dogs.
This disease had shown itself during the summer on the
banks of the Lena, the Jana, and the Indigirka. Very soon
after the beginning of winter, it reached the banks of the
Kolyma. As our intended journey over the ice depended on
our having the ninety-six dogs required for eight sledges, I

6—2

§4 History of Animal Plagues.

sought anxiously to adopt such precautions as might secure
those we obtained from infection. Orders were given to
procure as quickly as possible at least a hundred healthy dogs,
and to take them immediately to the greater and lesser
Tchukotski rivers, to be kept there at the expense of the
expedition, cutting off all communication with the neighbour-
ing district. Part of our provisions had also to be conveyed
to the store-house, which had been built near the Baranicha
river. But whilst we were endeavouring to execute these
plans, the malady spread so rapidly that we had the utmost
difficulty in obtaining thirty-six dogs instead of the required
ninety-six ; and though they were instantly sent away, they
almost all died. The mortality increased daily with the in-
creasing intensit}^ of the cold, and it soon extended to all the
villages and settlements in the Kolymsk district. The in-
habitants felt the loss of these valuable and almost indispen-
sable servants more acutely than they did the scarcity, to
occasional returns of which they are in a great measure
accustomed and resigned. Such was the unhappy state of
things at the opening of the new year (1822). As the time of
our departure was near, I gave up all hopes of procuring more
dogs in our own district, and sent one of the most trustworthy
of the Cossacks to the Indigirka, where the sickness did not
prevail, with a commission to purchase sixty, and to keep them
in readiness, until further orders, near the greater Tchukotski
river, feeding them well. On the 5th of March, I received
information from him that he had found it impossible to
collect more than forty-five dogs. As the intensity of the
cold diminished, the sickness gradually abated, until at last it
entirely subsided ; but not until the inhabitants had lost four-
fifths of their dogs. Most of those which survived were the
property of the Cossacks.' These remained for a long time so
weak as to be almost unserviceable. The epizooty appears to
have generally ceased in the winter of 1822-23. ' The fisheries
on the Kolyma had been generally successful, and the sickness
among the dogs having entirely ceased, their numbers had again
augmented.' Cases appear to have shown themselves shortly
afterwards, however, as the Admiral says : ' On the ist of

Period from A.D. 1815 to A.D. 1830.

March we were overtaken by a Cossack who had been sent on
from Nijni Kolymsk, with despatches. ... I sent back with
him two of the Indigirka sledges, as the dogs showed
symptoms of an infectious distemper.' The epizooty appears
to have had a remarkably wide range, according to the same
authority, for he adds: 'It is remarkable that in 1821, the
Tchuktches lost great numbers of their dogs by the same
malady as that which made such ravages among those of the
Kolyma, the Indigirka, the Jana, and the Lena.' In the
Ustiansk expedition — a minor one, consisting of a detachment
from Wrangel's exploring party — it would seem that the
malady had been observed earlier than with the principal
section. 'Lieutenant Anjou, accompanied by M. Iljin, mate,
M. Bereshnich, second mate. Dr. Figurin, surgeon, and two
sailors, arrived at Ustiansk in the beginning of the winter of
1820. After collecting the requisite number of sledges and
dogs and a suitable supply of provisions, he hastened to
remove his dogs from the influence of the epidemic then pre-
vailing among those animals by sending them to Point
Bikovskoi, on the easternmost embouchure of the Lena.'i

With reference to this epizooty among the dogs, and which
we have surmised to be analogous to what is commonly known
as ' distemper,' but which is in reality a catarrhal fever, it
must be remembered that the climate of Northern Siberia is
favourable to the production of catarrhs in the human species.
' Catarrhal fever, and complaints of the eyes are prevalent, but
only in October, during the thick fogs, and in December, when
the severe frosts set in. . . . During my stay at Verkhoiansk,
a kind of epidemic catarrhal fever prevailed throughout the
district ; the symptoms were violent oppression of the chest,
noise in the ears, headache, etc. It made its appearance, when,
after an unusually thick fog which lasted a week, intense cold
set in suddenly, and increased from day to day. From the
23rd to the 26th of December, the temperature was 49°, 58°,
62°, and 64° below zero. A Cossack, whom I had previously
sent forward with my papers, died of the epidemic. Everyone

' PVrangel. Narrative of an Expedition to the Polar Sea. London, 1844.
Pp- SO, 73. 230, 318, 320, 361.

86

History of Animal Plagues.

was more or less ill. I suffered most from a painful constric-
tion of the chest, which did not leave me until after my
arrival at Irkutsk, where I had medical assistance. It is a
general opinion here, that this, and other dangerous epidemics
which prevail among the natives, are not nearly so formidable
to those who have but lately arrived in the country ; but when
strangers have been exposed to the climate for some time they
lose this advantage.'^

From 1820 until 1822, an 'influenza ' reigned among horses
in Saxony and Prussia, which, in succeeding years, spread
over a large portion of the Continent. Tennecker and
Dieterichs observed it at this period, and described it under
the title of a ' chronic lung-and-liver inflammation {chronisdie
lungen-und lebere7itzundung)? It will be more fully noticed for
the year 1825.

A.D. 1822. A terrible eruption of the volcano Galongoon,in
the island of Java. Boiling mud, ashes, burning brimstone,
and stones were thrown a distance of forty miles from the
mountain. Every valley within range became filled with a
burning torrent, and the rivers, swollen with hot water and
mud, overflowed their banks, carried away great numbers of
people who were endeavouring to escape, as well as thousands
of cattle, wild beasts, and birds.^ In Chili, there was also a
severe earthquake, by which a tract of ground, measuring one
thousand square miles, was elevated from two to six feet on
the seaboard. The shell and other fish thus exposed to the
air died, their dead bodies exhaled a most noxious effluvia,
which was the cause of disease.*

In Ireland, typhus fever appeared in mankind in the Queen's
County and County Kilkenny in December, and owing to
constant wet, an unusual amount of disease prevailed among
horses.^ In April, in the West of Ireland, it was reported
that ' the cattle were dying by dozens for want of food,' owing

' Wrangel. Narrative of an Expedition to the Polar Sea, p. 372.

- Tennecker. Praktische Beobachtungen iiber die bei den Pferden herrschende
Chronische Lung-und Leberentziindung. Ilmenau, 1823. Dieterichs. Handbuch
d. Spec. Pathologic, etc.

^ Lyell. Op. cit. * Bascome. Op. cit. p. 155. ^ Public Journals.

Period from A.D. 1815 to A.D. 1830. 87

to the condition of the pasture-lands, and the destruction of
the hay crop in the previous autumn.^

Typhus and spasmodic yellow fever prevailed in Paris in
the human species ; and during an outbreak of epidemic
yellow fever at New Orleans in September and October, it
was observed that the dogs suffered from the black vomit.
More particularly was it noted that at Pensacola the vigorous
hounds which had been recently imported, and had not yet
begun to degenerate from the effects of climate, were the first
to die.'^

In England, pheasants died in large numbers from the
presence of thread worms (Jilaria) in the bronchial tubes.^

During the summer heats, anthracoid diseases were frequent
on the Continent of Europe. In France, they were especially
prevalent in the departments of the Basses Pyrenees, Aveyron,
and Correze, among cattle and mules.'' They were also
destructive at Tarn.^ Glossanthrax followed upon the intense
heat of the summer in Northern Seeland. In Silesia, where it
also caused much loss, men who became infected from
diseased animals perished.^ In its favourite haunt, Bavaria,
anthrax attacked horses, cattle, and other animals.''^ The
same malady, in the form of anthracoid haematuria {blutharnens)
was epizootic in Nassau.^

Ovinesmall-pox was very rife in many provinces of Germany,
and in the department of Haute-Marne, France, it raged con-
tinually from 1822 to 1834.^

Hydrophobia was markedly common among dogs in
Holland.io

Before this period, according to M. Tisserant," bovine con-

' Dublin Evening Post.

- Chalert. Hasper. Krankheiten der Tropenladern, vol. ii.
^ Yoiiall. The Veterinarian, vol. vi. p. 179.
* Compte Rendu de TEcole de Lyon, 1824.

^Santin. Mem. sur la Fievre Charbonneuse observee sur les Boeufs et les
Vaches. Castres, 1822. Saussol and Fradal. Mem. sur la Fievre Charbonneuse
qui a regne dans les Cantons de Saint-Amans, Brassac, Mazamet en 1822.
Castres, 1823. " Pruess. Staatszeit, 1822.

' Plank. Veterinartopogr. von Baiem, p. 142. * Franque. Op. cit.

" Recueil de Med. Veter. vol. xiii. p. 393. Forstcr. Op. cit. p. 179.

"Journal de Med. Veter. de Lyon, second series, vol. iii. p. 402.

88

History of Animal Plagues.

tagious pleuro-pneumonia was entirely unknown in the depart-
ment of Ardeche, France ; but in this year it made its appear-
ance there. It would seem that at this time oxen were, for
the most part, employed to tow the boats trafficking on the
Rhone, between Lyons and the sea, and that the majority of
these animals came from Franche-Comte. In winter, when
the river traffic was less active than at other seasons, these
bullocks were depastured on the mountains in the neighbour-
hood. In 1822, a certain number of them, so depastured, were
discovered to be diseased, and these propagated the malady.
Nevertheless, it being winter, and the native cattle nearly all
kept housed, without much communication between the stables,
the contagion did not spread to any great distance, and was
not long in being eradicated. It appeared again, however, in
1847. (See that year.)

A.D. 1823. A wet summer in England, but a dry autumn.
Early in July, the sea in the vicinity of Exeter emitted noxious
effluvia, and the fish taken in the neighbourhood were nearly
dead. The water was coloured with an oily matter all along
the coast. Great inundations during the hay harvest in
England and Scotland, as well as in Ireland. Small-pox was
epidemic in the latter country. 'The malignity of the
epidemic constitution of the air was very remarkable at this
time ; it interfered with the recovery of patients after surgical
operations. Slight punctures, received while dissecting, were
often succeeded by suddenly fatal attacks of typhus disease.
That the malignant influence of the air was not only epidemic,
but epizootic, was proved also by its symptoms, such as dark
petechise in all parts of horses uncovered by hair (the tongue,
nostrils, etc.), by glandular tumours, both internally and
externally on the same animals.'^

The malignant epizooty among horses which was observed
in England in 181 5 and 18 19, was again present at the
commencement of this year. ' The epizootic affection of 1823
was of the most serious and fatal description ; it affected the
whole body with such inflammatory action in all its parts or
organs, that an animal was very quickly reduced and destroyed
1 Stokes. Sketch of Epidemic Fever.

Period from A.D. 1815 to A.D. 1830. 89

by it ; and yet the most active antiphlogistic treatment was
necessary, those cases doing best where the regimen was most
vigorous, provided purging was not excited ; for when that
state was induced the animal most generally died. . . .

' General Charactei's of the Epizootic Disease. — Inflamed eyes ;
frequent pulse ; yellow-reddish mouth, very offensive ; tongue
sometimes coated ; serous discharge from nose ; purging ;
distended belly ; pain in feet ; swellings in legs, etc.'^

Wirth 2 reports that ' rot ' was destructive among sheep and
cattle in France and Germany.

In the Mauritius, an epizooty, or rather a series of epizootics,
attacked the domestic animals, and continued until 1825. In
the later years all the vegetation was unhealthy, and children
suffered severely.^

Anthrax prevailed in Saxony.*

Accounts from Norway, Denmark, and Russia, as well as
those published in England, prove that rabies was very
frequent not only among dogs and cats, but also wolves in the
three first-named countries. It is also mentioned that the
reindeer in Lapland had rabies ; and what was stated to be
more wonderful, the pike in Helsingland, in the month of
June, were said to be seized with a kind of madness, as
thousands of these fish were found on the banks of rivers
with their heads bruised and injured, as if they had been
biting each other.^ However this may be, it is certain that
the mysterious fox-madness yet manifested itself in Switzer-
land, as the following account will testify : ' In April, 1823, a
fox crept into a stable at Volken, where there was a bitch with
her puppies, which, after ten days, were killed, as they were
suspected of being rabid. In October, a young man at
Rafzerfeld was attacked and injured. The liver of the slain
animal was found to be quite black. In the year 1824,
mad dogs and cats were frequent in many neighbourhoods.
Dr. Streiff informs us of the appearance of diseased foxes in

V- Field. Op. cit. p. 26. Yoiiatt. The Veterinarian, vol. vi. p. 122.

* Wirth. Op. cit. p. 124. ' Unienville. Op. cit. vol. iii. p. 117.

* Dresdener Zeitschrift, vol. v. p. 83.

" Hamburg. Magaz. fiir Ausl. Mdd. Lit. vol. viii. p. 273.

90

History of Animal Plagues.

the year 1824-5 the Canton Glarus as follows : 'Already in
the year 1820, we have noticed the special appearance of
diseased foxes in this, as in other cantons, and especially in
the undermentioned localities. They became perfectly tame,
seemed giddy, approached houses and stables, and were there
easily killed. In the beginning of the year 1824-5, several
goats in the neighbourhood of Bilten sickened, and in them
symptoms of a quite peculiar disease showed themselves ; these
animals died. Subsequent experience proves that the malady
was true rabies. In March, 1825, two foxes came to a stable
in Nettstall, wherein was a bitch and a litter of pups. The
bitch fought with one of these foxes ; in the beginning she
was seized with madness, bit her master, her pups, and several
other dogs. Both the foxes, and the bitch, as well as the dogs
bitten by her, were destroyed. In the unfortunate man
hydrophobia showed its dreaded symptoms on the 9th of
August, nearly four months after the injury, and two days
afterwards it was truly manifest ; he died in a few days.
After this it was ascertained that diseased foxes had been
seen in various places in the canton in the beginning of the
year. The transmission of the sickness from place to place
was easily followed. . . .

'The disease lasted until the winter of 1826-27, ^i^d the
number of infected animals was considerable. The contagion
was most frequently communicated to cats, more seldom to
goats and horned stock ; only one horse was attacked with
rabies. Many foxes were found in various neighbourhoods
dead from the malady. Under date of the 7th December,
1825, the Sanitary Commission of the Canton of St. Gallen
reports, that throughout the whole year here and there traces
of mad animals had been witnessed, especially foxes, which
had attacked many cattle upon the Alps, as well as in the
stalls ; cats, too, were attacked, and these at a later period
died exhibiting all the terrible symptoms of hydrophobia.
For several years past, a peculiar disease has been noticed
among foxes ; but in this year the true rabies was unmistak-
able, and proved itself as such only too clearly by its contagious
properties. Since October in Ober-Toggcnburg and Utznacht,

Period from A.D. to A.D. 1830. 91

the disease has broken out among several head of cattle which
had been previously bitten by foxes ; also in the Canton Aargau,
foxes suffering from madness were noticed in 1825. In the
Canton Zurich, though only in Embrach and Stafa, were sus-
pected foxes observed ; but the dogs and cats were frequently
affected, as well as suspected. In the Canton Schwyz mad
foxes were also met with ; and at Altendorf a cow and an ox
died of hydrophobia ; these had only been a few weeks from
the pastures, and there were not any traces of wounds about
them. In the year 1826, suspected foxes showed themselves
in Bulach and VVildberg ; rabid dogs in several places. In
1827, foxes suspected of rabies appeared in Lindau, especially
on the Rafzerfeld ; by these men and animals were attacked,
and a woman was bitten by a badger supposed to be rabid.

'In 1828, foxes supposed to be rabid showed themselves in
Zurich, in Himweil, Pjaffikon, Bulach, and Regensberg, and a
badger and a marten were killed because suspected of rabies.
In the year 1829, the Sanitary Commission only received intel-
ligence of one fox supposed to be mad, and which was in
Freinenstein. In 1830, such animals appeared in the parishes
of Kuonau, Meilen, Bulach, and Regensberg. In the first half
of the month of July, a diseased fox crept into a stable full of
cattle in the parish of Rlimlang, and bit an ox in the hind leg.
It was killed, examined, and declared to be rabid. Towards
the middle of August this ox was attacked with rabies and died
on the 15th of that month. On the 27th of April, in the next
year, a cow in the same stable, and probably bitten by the
same fox, was attacked with symptoms of rabies and died on
the 30th — forty-two weeks after the appearance of the fox.
In July, 1831, a man was attacked by a fox in a field at
Oberdorf, in the parish of Regenstorf, and bitten in the hand.
Besides this, no other case of the kind came under the notice
of the Sanitary Commission for this year.

'In 1832, a supposed rabid fox was killed in the parish of
Weinengen ; rabid dogs showed themselves in several neigh-
bourhoods, as also in the Cantons Lucerne, Zug, and Aargau.
In 1833, no cases were reported ; but in the interval the malady
had by no means ceased in other localities, particularly in the

92

History of Animal Plagues.

neighbouring Canton of St. Gallen, as the published review of
the doings of the Sanitary Commission for October, 1832, to
October, 1833, show. According to these reports, it showed
itself here and there, but not so virulent as in the previous
years, and characterized by sometimes nervous symptoms, at
others by splenic complications, but in others again by indi-
cations of pure rabies. On the i8th of November, 1832, a fox
supposed to be infected with the malady appeared in broad
daylight at Ganis, and came in contact with a dog, but the
latter sustained no wounds ; without any other known cause,
unmistakable symptoms of hydrophobia manifested them-
selves in the middle of March, 1833, in this dog. In the
middle of M arch the same kind of foxes appeared again in
larger numbers in Upper Toggenburg, and from the middle
of September in several parishes in the district of Gester.
In the present year, 1834, disease broke out again in the
Canton Zurich, and attained a greater extension than in
previous years.

* On the loth of March, intelligence was received of the first
case by the Sanitary Commission, namely : that in Tossthale a
rabid fox had attacked and bitten a dog, and was afterwards
killed. From that time the cases became more numerous, and
even now — the end of November-^it has not been extirpated. .
. . In this year nearly three hundred foxes have been killed in
this canton, of which number one-third was supposed to be
rabid, and the remainder were killed for the purpose of ob-
taining the reward offered for dead foxes. One of the latest
reports of the Sanitary Commission of the Canton Thurgau,
refers to this subject in the appearance of rabies in an ox
in Diessenhofen, which was attacked on the pasture and
bitten in the nose by a fox on the 13th September ; on the
14th of October symptoms of madness showed themselves,
and on the iSth it died. But far more interesting is the sad
case that occurred in the Canton Biindten but a short time
ago. A girl bitten by a fox died of hydrophobia, notwith-
standing all prophylactic treatment.'^ In the north the
disease had reached the frontier of Nassau in 1823. 'The

A'in Jtlin. Op. cit. p. 13.

Period from A.D. 1815 to A.D. 1830.

first diseased foxes showed themselves in June, 1823, in the
district Usingen. The disease spread itself by degrees in the
districts on this side of the Lahn. Upon the heights of the
Taunus Mountains, it attained its greatest virulency in the
months of November and December, 1823, and January and
February, 1824. It reached the districts on the other side of
the Lahn in April, 1824, and it was not until July, October,
and November of the same year that it showed itself upon the
Rhine. In the neighbourhoods on the other side of the Lahn,
it reached its greatest intensity during the interval between
May and October, and from that time it appears to have
gradually declined. Traces of the disease, however, were
noticed in February, in October, November, and December,
1825 ; in January, March, and May, 1826; and lastly in April
and May, 1827. Since the latter period, until the close of the
year 1833, no diseased foxes have been seen.'^ At Upper
Hesse, in the Grand-Duchy of Darmstadt, where it appeared,
Ritgen describes it : ' Already in the commencement of the
year 1824, several foxes were found dead. Their deaths
were attributed partly to hunger, partly to mange ; but there
must have been other reasons, as they were not emaciated,
neither were they mangey, nor did they die a violent death.
On the 1st of March, 1824, the clergyman at Wahlen, near
Kirtorf, reports that his dogs had been attacked and bitten by
a fox on the previous evening, and within the yard. The fox
was killed. On the twelfth day after the injury the dogs
showed all the symptoms of rabies and were killed. On the
2 1st of September a fox attacked a young woman in broad
daylight at Brenngeshain. The fox was killed. On the 23rd
of December, 1824, a fox attacked two poor girls in the garden
of the Weismiihle at Grossenbuseck, and was slain by a miller.
On the 2 1st of November, 1824, another fox at daybreak
entered the sheep-pen of George Jung, at Grosslumda,
wherein were seven sheep, and bit four of them ; it also was
killed. On the i6th of December the burgermeister of
Grosslumda reports that three of the bitten sheep were
attacked with madness. In the night between the ist and

'^Franque. Uber die Scuche unter den Fiichse. Frankfort, 1827-8.

94

History of Animal Plagues.

2nd of January, 1825, a fox appeared in the sheep-pen of
George Dorr of Reinhardshain, and seriously wounded several
of the six sheep which were there. On the 20th two of the
bitten sheep were dead ; three looked very unwell, and the sixth,
without any appearance of having been bitten, was attacked
with rabies. A dog belonging to the shepherd Dechert, of
the same place, was bitten by the same fox, and on the 20th
became rabid. We learn from the forester Weitershausen of
the same place, that a dead fox had been found in the field,
and twenty-four hours afterwards another, which lay upon the
first. On the 2nd of January, 1825, two foxes were killed at
Beueren. One of these foxes wounded a miller's dog, and it
sickened on the 29th of the same month.

' On a general batttie in the district of Griinberg, ten foxes
were slaughtered up to the 22nd of January, and four of these
were immediately recognized as diseased. In Maiches, on the
15th of January, a fox which ran into the place was killed. On
the 22nd a fox came into the town of Alsfeld and was killed.
On the 1st of February, a fox entered the town of Konrads-
dorf, and placed itself before the dogs, which immediately ran
away; this animal was destroyed. On the same day, towards
noon, a fox was found in the yard of the burgermeister of
Lissberg, which defended itself and was killed. On the 17th
of this month, two foxes were discovered in the Vilbel wood,
near an earth, lying dead not far from each other.' ^ ' In the
night of the 20th and 21st January, 1825, the shepherd Rauft,
of Beuern, heard his dogs, which were in the cowshed, bark
loudly ; the cow also appeared very uneasy. He ran into the
place and found the dog still whining, and with a long bleed-
ing wound on the nose. This animal became unwell on the
30th of January, and died on the ist of February. On the
9th of February the cow was also attacked with hydrophobia,
and died. On the 3rd of February a fox was slain at Maulbach ;
at Grebenau on the 25th, a fox was shot who had attacked
men. In the night of the 27-8th of February, the watchman
at Crumbach noticed the strange barking of a shepherd's dog.
In the morning a fox was found before the barn ; it went
' Kitgcn. Henke's Zeitschr. vol. x. p. i.

Period from A.D. 1815 to A.D. 1830.

away, but was shortly afterwards killed. On the 7th of March
a fox was slain in a house at Udenhausen ; on the nth a
diseased fox was shot in a woodshed at Storudorf ; on the 19th,
at the shepherd's house at Daubringen, a fox was found dead ;
on the 26th a slain fox was sent in from Crumbach ; on the
27th one from Steinberg ; on the same date a fox attacked a
dog in the wood of Heibertshausen, and was shot. On th e
31st the landrater of Zangen, Crumbach, reports that a similar
malady had occurred among the cats, as not only had he lost
six cats, but he had been assured by the forester Lang, in
Steinberg, that many cats had been found dead. On the 12th
of April, at five o'clock in the morning, a fox ran round the
village of Wohnbach, near Hungen, and was slain. On the
1 6th, at three o'clock in the morning, the shepherd at Her-
mannstein heard a piteous whining from his two young dogs
in the stable. He found a fox sitting upon one of these dogs
and snapping at it; he destroyed it with a stable-fork. In
Lower Hesse, the malady was very prevalent, and attracted
much attention.'

The following is worthy of notice for this locality : ' In the
month of June, 1826, the cattle belonging' to the parish of
Nordeck (Marburg) were being pastured in a wood ; suddenly
there came an animal towards the cowherd, and which was
unknown to him. It attacked the bull, which attempted to
defend itself with its horns ; the cowherd knocked it down
with his stick, and hurried with his herd to the village ; soon
after he returned to the place with a forester. The animal,
which this man recognized to be a badger, was recovering,
but it was destroyed by them.'^

Hertwig^ says that this epizooty was not noticed in the
North of Germany ; in Southern Germany it appeal's to have
existed for many years. So late as the month of August, 1836,
a man and a girl were wounded by a fox in the bailiwick of
Rottenburg ; the girl died of hydrophobia,^' In the spring-

^Busch. Zeitschrift fur die Thierheilkunde, vol. ii. p. 49.
^Magazin fiir Thierheilkunde, vol. i. p. 277.
' Flieninger, WUrtemb. Corresponbl. vol. viii.

c)6 History of Animal Plagues.

time of 1837, many mad foxes were killed in the country of
Ulm.i

With regard to the reported epizooty of rabies among
the reindeer in Lapland, I cannot find any specific account,
but Bascome^ asserts that ' the Laplanders suffered greatly in
their cattle from murrain ; upwards of five thousand head of
oxen were carried off-wolves even being destroyed by it, so
intense and general among the lower animals was the dis-
temper' The malady would appear to have been malignant
anthrax but its outbreak was ascribed to the attacks of insects
(like other outbreaks of this plague in other parts of the
world), or rather a species of worm said to be peculiar to
Lapland, and which was originally mentioned by Linnaeus
under the name of ihcfuria infernalis. And although that great
naturalist is said to have altered his opinion late in life, and
even to have expressed doubts as to the existence of the insect
vet as Dr Clarke, when travelling in that country, Norway and
Sweden, mentions it,* and as the Laplanders themselves have

1 Herin<r. Magazin fur Thierheilkunde, vol. v. p. 189. Op. cit P- i55-

3 SrnSs's description is as follows: 'The>n« infernalu mhabits the vast
^ linVof Bothnia and Finland, where it crawls up shrubs and sedge-grass
""f^^T^^J tZrl\., the wi^d, penetrates suddenly into such exposed
and being ^^"^^^f^";^/'; perpendicularly situated. It quickly bunes

parts of J^^.,^; ,vhere it had entered ; which is soon

X inflammation and gangrene of the par,
succeeaea ^y ^ happens in the course of a day or two, frequently

swoonmg and dealh Th^ alU a^^^ i„,,ediately extracted, which is effected
withm a few hours, ""^^^J ^"^^ . ^ ^^^.e of curds or cheese, or

with great caution and difficulty, by appiyinj, a p , . c^.. jjat ' vol i.

Ta^ea'ly dissecting between the muscles where it has entered. - Syst. Nat.
part vi. p. 3081. Gmdin, L^^^^^^^^ Larkable circumstance happened to

.Dr. Clarkes -^^f ^' / 'thiV place (Sundswall), on the ist of July,

the author, just before his aruv \,.^^,^^ travelling-waggon as he

Hehadbeenreadmg the ^f^^ ^ ^^^J, his companion of the

proceeded on his ^^"fj^^," Jed naturalist had nearly lost his life in

xnarvellous manner in ^^'^^^7 bv a worm said to have fallen from the air, the
consequence of being wounded ^y ^ ^^^^^^ ^ j^^^.^iity as to the existence
furia infernalis; -P-^g. ^ --^.^^..V the fact. At this moment he
of such an animal, and, of ^^^ ^^^^^^ perhaps by the same

was himself attacked '^^l;^ ^^^^^^ ^y^ ^, j^-Uation, took place in his left wrist,
creature. A sharp pam, precedeci oy s ^ ^^^.^^^
It was confined at first to a smal ^-^--t ' - y ^^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^

posed to proceed from the ^'^^ ^ ,a\ r -

Period from A.D. 1815 to A.D. 1830.

no hesitation in asserting that such a creature exists, I will
here transcribe Mr. de Buke's account, though we need not
believe altogether in the presence of this insect, and for
several reasons which shall appear :

'In 1823, the Laplanders are stated to have suffered so
greatly in their herds, that five thousand head died from the
sting of this creature ; and that even the wolves and other
animals that prej'^ed upon the dead carcases, caught the in-
fection, and died with the same symptoms. A Laplander,
who possessed five hundred deer, on perceiving the destruc-
tion among them, thought it best to kill the whole herd ; but
so quickly did its ravages spread, that before he could accom-
plish his purpose they all died. Great numbers of cattle and
sheep were likewise destroyed by its attacks, and it fell in
some degree upon the human species, a few having become
victims to it. A young girl, who was shearing some sheep
that had died from the attack of the furia, felt, while thus
employed, a sudden pain in one of her fingers, which rapidly
increased, and on examining the part, she found a small
puncture, like the prick of a needle ; her master, who was by,

have been more serious, if he had not resorted to a mode of cure pointed out by
the inhabitants, namely, a poultice of curd, to which he added the well-known
Goulard lotion, prepared from the acetate of lead.' — ' Travels in Various Countries
of Scandinavia,' etc. London, 1838, vol. i. p. 208.

Mr. Inglis refers to an occurrence of this nature when in Norway : * Sitting one
day along with a peasant, who had been my guide to a trouting stream, upon a trunk
of a tree in some boggy ground, covered with coarse grass, and here and there a
few cranberry bushes, I saw a very small fly of a grey colour suddenly light upon
the back of my companion's hand, and as suddenly fall off. Immediately after he
lifted up his hand, complaining of acute pain, and there appeared a small blackish
speck where I had seen the insect alight. He immediately said he was bitten by
a worm, ?nd made the utmost speed to reach a house where he might have a curd-
poultice applied. The hand and arm swelled, and were much inflamed, and the
man cried out with the excessive pain. The moment I saw the hand, and heard
the man complain of acute pain, and say he was stung by a worm, I called to
mind the circumstance related of Dr. Clarke, and from the subsequent symptoms,
application and cure, I could have little doubt that both were stung by the same
creature. I am no naturalist, but I have thought it right to relate a fact that came
within my own observation, the value of which I leave to be estimated by others.
I would only add that neither Dr. Clarke nor anyone who has had a poultice
applied for the purpose of extracting the worm, have said that they saw the worm
when it was extracted.' — ' Personal Narrative of a Journey through Norway,' etc.
London, 1835, p. 227.

7

98

History of Animal Plagues.

had the presence of mind to cut the finger off on the spot,
and it was the means of saving her Hfe. . . . The pest is stated
to have been confined to Russian and Swedish Lapland, and
did not spread higher than Muonioniska, Norwegian Lap-
land fortunately was not visited with this calamity ; and, in
order to prevent it from being introduced, all furs, during the
year of its prevalence, were forbidden to be purchased. (I
have since ascertained that, in consequence of the alarm
excited by the reported ravages of the furia, an edict was
actually issued from the Amtmand of Finmark, prohibiting
the introduction of all furs into the country that year.) As
these accounts were unsatisfactory, and I could not hope to
obtain better information from such remote quarters, I was
induced also on this occasion to apply to Mr. Retzius, who,
having examined the reports of health of the northern pro-
vinces of Sweden, transmitted annually for the information of
the Government, has forwarded to me the result of his in-
quiries, by which it appears that during the summer of 1823,
and the year following, there was a great mortality among
the reindeer in Norbotten and Lapland, which was attributed
to some unwholesome quality in the moss ; but that he, as
well as others of the faculty at Stockholm, had been led to
consider the disorder by which, they were attacked as a par-
ticular variety of hydrophobia. It appears, likewise, that the
deer are not unfrequently subject to another complaint— an
inflammation of the brain ; and that, upon opening the part
affected, a small vesicular worm (the tcenia cerebralis) is found.
The most remarkable symptoms of this disorder, which comes
on with great suddenness, are an extraordinary degree of fury,
during which the animal attacks, and even kills, its owners,
and frightful convulsions, terminating in death.'^

In considering the nature of this epizooty, and its supposed
origin from the bites of insects, it may be noted that the
forests of Lapland and Siberia abound with swarms of these
creatures, which cause the reindeer the most intense annoy-
ance, and compel their owners to move them to the sea-
coast or open districts at certain seasons. Not the least
1 De Capell Brooke. Travels in Lapland. London, 1827.

Period from A.D. 1815 to A.D. 1830.

harassing of these creatures is the CEstrus Tarandi, or gadfly,
of the reindeer, which, not content with wounding the deer,
deposits its ova in the wound, and another variety performs
the same operation in the mouth and nostrils.^

A.D. 1824. Locusts caused immense devastation in India,
and the myriads of these insects which, in the preceding
years, had invaded Europe, in this year occupied Galicia,
Silesia, and Brandenburg.^

In England, rot was more than usually destructive among
sheep ; it ruined many farmers, and in some agricultural
districts gave rise to very great depression. One farmer alone
lost sheep valued at more than £-^,0)00 in three months. The
same malady was very common in France and Germany
according to Wirth.

Canine rabies was epizootic in Sweden ; and rabies was
also widely prevalent among wolves, foxes, cats, and reindeer
in that country.^ It was also present in a general manner
in Russia, Norway, and England,^ and, it appears, even ex-
tended to Ireland. ' In Ireland, in August, many cases of
hydrophobia occurred, owing to the number of mad dogs
running about the metropolis.' ^

An epizooty is reported as prevailing among the reindeer
in Sweden \^ but it was probably the same that has been com-
mented upon for the preceding year.

A deadly exanthematous fever destroyed large numbers of
cats in Dresden.'^

Epizootic ekzema prevailed generally throughout Italy. It
affected cattle, sheep, pigs, and even fowls, and spread from
Upper to Central Italy, as if it had come from Switzerland ;
but, according to some accounts, without manifesting itself in

^ For interesting details concerning the QLsirtis Tarandi and its effect on the rein-
deer, as well as the means by which the Laplanders and other people avert its
persecutions, see Mr. Brooke's excellent description in the above-mentioned work ;
also his 'Travels in Norway, Sweden,' etc., pp. 41, 198. Clarke. Travels in
Various Countries of Scandinavia, etc. Lloyd. Scandinavian Adventures, vol. ii.
pp. 225, 226. Erman. Travels in Siberia, vol. ii. pp. 375, 500, 509.

^ Riiiey. Die Erdkundc von Asien, vol. vi. pp. 794, 798.

^ Suenska Liik. Sellsk. arb, 1824.

* Gerson imd Julius. Magazin, vol. viii. p. 273. ^ Belfast Newspaper.

Public Papers. ^ Dresdener Zeitschrift.

7—2

loo History of Animal Plagues.

any other countries.i Metaxa,^ however, asserts that the
epizooty showed itself as early as 1823, and lasted until this
year, and that it came from Hungary. Haupt states that it
was observed in Southern Russia in this and the following
year 3 as well as in France* and Germany^ during the two
succeeding years. In Russia, Cattle Plague was epizootic at
the same time as this ekzematous fever.

In India, the rainy season commenced earlier than usual,
and the atmosphere was particularly luminous. Malignant
cholera broke out not far from Calcutta, and in that city a
typhoid and exanthematous fever raged. Twining^ informs
us that at this time an epizooty of a most fatal character was
present among dogs. 'During the existence of widely-
spreading epidemics, unusual mortality among animals has
been considered a collateral proof of a contaminated atmo-
sphere Although I have not been able to ascertain that any
o-eneral mortality occurred among animals, like the epizootics
that have occasionally accompanied epidemic diseases in the
north of Europe, it may be worthy of record, that the year
1824 was remarkably fatal to dogs in the vicinity of Calcutta,
the sickness among these animals commencing in August.
They were seized with loss of appetite, excessive thirst,
violent action of the heart, that could be seen at a consider-
able distance ; and in some cases there was yellowness of the
eyes and skin, with distension of the belly, though the dog
had taken no food for several days. These symptoms were
followed by a purging, which carried off the animal in a day
or two after its commencement. On dissection the stomach
was found empty, the spleen unnaturally turgid with blood,
and the liver streaked with dark purple and black patches.

a Crepetti. Delia Malattia Contagiosa delle Bestie Bovine e degli -^tri Animali,
etc M ian 1824. Fauvct. Delia Zoppina e Cancro Volante, ossia Cenm Teor
Prat s^'Essantema Epizootico regnante. Milan, 1825. Lamberluchr. _ Cenn
?eor. Prat Sr Essante'.a Epizootico ricon,parso in Ron.agna. .mpropr.amente
caterizzato per Cancro Volante o Glossantrace. Pesaro, 1826.

s^SJ". tir einige Seuchenkrankheiten der^Hausthi<.ein Sibirier. Bedin.
* Recueil de Med. V^er. vol. xxii. p. 80. ' ^ra.,j.'- f '

Observations on the Fever in Calcutta. Trans. Med. Soc. of

Calcutta, vol. ii. p. 9-

Period fi'om A.D. 1815 to A.D. 1830. loi

Various modes of treatment were tried, but found of no
service. In one kennel, ten couple out of twelve died. One
gentleman lost fifteen out of sixteen dogs, another lost eleven
out of twelve. In one pack of forty-seven couples, forty-
three couples died in two months ; in these last the disease
commenced in the beginning of October.'

A.D. 1825. Yellow fever was epidemic in South America,
and very deadly at Rio de Janeiro, where the drought had
been excessive, and was succeeded by heavy rains. At one
settlement alone, Aracaty, the mortality in a short time was
estimated at 30,000 people. Great numbers died during their
efforts to reach the coast for water, and wild as well as
domestic animals perished.

Small-pox was epidemic at Hamburg, and plague at

Cairo.i

At Langenaufach, in Bavaria, a badger, supposed to have
been bitten by a rabid fox, wounded two children, and a
horse and a cow. Count Sponek, who had been investigating
the subject of rabies, thinks that ' had it not been mad, the
great dread of mankind, peculiar to these animals, would
have prevented its attacking people in broad daylight.'^

What was designated a ' gastro-bilious fever,' appeared
among cattle in the commune of Barbania, Piedmont.^

The Cattle Plague commenced to spread again from its
supposed home, towards the North, South, and West. In
this year it was extending in the governments of Pskov,
Novgorod, and Siberia. In 1826, it was imported into
Esthonia, Livonia, and Sweden ; in the following year it was
in Kuronia ; and in 1828-29, it had reached the government
of St. Petersburg, had ravaged the whole of Southern
Russia, Moldavia, Wallachia, Hungary, Silesia, and Bohemia,
even to the very frontiers of Saxony. In 1826, it was pre-
ceded in Russia, according to Professor Jessen of Dorpat, by
epizootic ophthalmia, ekzema, and anthrax. ' In the summer

^ Basconte. Op. cit. p. 156.

2 Sammlung Naturhist. Jagerbeob. Heidelberg, 1826. ,. t> , •

^Lessona. Storia della Mortifera Malattia fra le Bestie Bovme di Barbama.
Turin, 1827.

102 History of Animal Plagues.

of 1826, there raged such a terrible heat and drought as had
not been seen before by the oldest people. The woods were
scorched everywhere, and the air was so filled with smoke,
that for several weeks the sun was scarcely visible for a single
day ; in the evening, when it did appear, it looked like a
blood-red disc without rays, so that one could look at it direct
without inconvenience. At the beginning of June, there
broke out an epizootic inflammation of the eyes among the
horses belonging to the regiments Graf Araktschejef ; this
ophthalmia was of such a virulent character, that it com-
pletely destroyed these organs. At the same time many
cattle suffered from the foot disease {Klauenseuche). At the
end of June, and in July and August, anthrax appeared
among the horses, and even many fishes caught in the river
Wolchow were covered with tumours and foul sores ; crabs
were found dead on the banks. The Cattle Plague {Ldser-
diirre) soon followed.

Anthrax fever was epizootic in Nassau,^
For several years horses had been suffering from an epizootic
fever over nearly the whole of Europe, the nature, causes, pro-
gress, and the contagious or non-contagious properties of which,
gave rise to much discussion. It had been more particularly
observed between the years 1824 and 1828 ; and from the
facts furnished in the numerous descriptions published concern-
ing it, Heusinger was of opinion that it was a 'nervous catarrhal
fever,' which might perhaps be compared with the spotted
typhus in man. From its appearing at many distant places
during the autumn of 1824, it was conjectured that its origin
was due to some special miasmatic influence, and that it may
also have generated a virus by which it could be transmitted
from the diseased to the healthy. Nordling gives an ex-
cellent description of the epizooty as it appeared in Sweden ;
though it is to be remembered that it was in Denmark before
it was in Sweden-probably in 1823-and that in all likeh-

- Jcssen. Die Rinderpest mit besonderer Beziehung auf Russland d-gestellt.
Eerlin, 1834. Also see Z.rW. Untersuchungen uber die Rinderpest. Berlin,
1831. Veith. Handbuch der Veterinarkunde, 1831.

" Franque. Op. cit.

Period from A.D. 1815 to A.D. 1830. 103

hood it was prevalent in Saxony and Prussia from 1820
until 1822.

Nordling writes : ' The malady, the history of which I am
about to describe in a few words, is common among the horses
in the province of Scania, and also among those of the Royal
Guard at the Capital. At the commencement of October of
the past year (1824), it was observed for the first time in the
squadrons of the Prince Royal's Hussars, stationed at Malmoe,
and thence it spread into the town and the neighbouring
country. In the month of January, the disease had so
diminished that it was hoped it would completely disappear ;
when, all at once, it again showed itself among the horses of
the Scanian regiments of cavalry— the officers of these regi-
ments having been collected in readiness for the manoeuvres
in April. In the beginning of February, three horses belong-
ing to the Royal Guard were attacked by the disease ; two of
these had just returned from Scania, where during the autumn
and the past year they had been depastured with the horses
belonging to the regiment of Hussars of the Prince Royal.
The disease had spread itself progressively among all the
horses of the squadrons of this regiment ; but beyond these,
it had not yet attacked more than two horses in the capital,
one of which was found in the vicinity of the diseased horses
of the Royal Guard. There could scarcely be a doubt as to
the epizootic nature of the malady, nor yet of the necessity for
providing against its ravages. It is neither a new complaint,
nor yet is it a rare one. From what I have been able to
observe of it, I am led to believe that it has a great analogy
to the malignant putrid fever of the horse described by
Viborg, or perhaps his epizootic malignant fever — it, in my
opinion, being nothing else ; or the pulmonary inflammation
of Veith, with its accompanying putrid and bilious fever ; or
one of those modifications of malignant anthrax mentioned
by French authors, and whose principal characteristic consists
in disease of the lungs and liver. All the phenomena observed
during the progress of the disease, as well as the lesions dis-
covered after death, testify to the existence of an inflammatory
state, the most intense degree of asthenia, and a great tendency

I04 History of Animal Plagues.

to pass into a condition of gangrene and putridity. There is
also to be noted exudation of lymph as one of the features
of the disease. The organs which principally suffer are the
lungs and the liver ; it is for this reason that the malady is
known among the people by the name of " putrefaction of
the lungs." The disease generally manifests itself suddenly
and without any premonitory symptoms. The sick animal
does not possess the slightest appetite,, and has the greatest
loathing for corn ; he hangs his head, and altogether shows a
great degree of prostration. His pace is very slow, and when
forced to move, the anterior extremities are stiff and extended,
while the posterior part of the body is unsteady and sways
about. When allowed to stand, the two extremities on each
side are always in the same position ; sometimes symptoms
of vertigo have been remarked from the onset of the attack.
A sharp hacking cough is not a very rare symptom ; the
nostrils are dilated, and often there flows from them a foetid,
orange-coloured fluid ; the respiration is shallow and hurried,
and the movements of the flanks are accelerated ; the con-
junctivae and the mucous membrane of the mouth are yellow.
The eyes are dull and fixed, and often tearful, particularly
when the malady is most severe ; a febrile condition is mani-
fested at the very commencement, with erethismus, which
sooner or later changes into a torpid state — a circumstance
observed sometimes from the beginning of the disease ; cold
and hot stages succeed each other alternately, and the latter
are denoted by a burning heat about the eyes, the upper lids
of which are often drooping. The pulse is sometimes
diminished— slow and weak— at other times accelerated and
strong ; the impulse of the heart can be very distinctly seen
on the left side of the chest ; the tongue is foul, hot, and
covered with mucosities ; the excretion of the urine and fasces
is slowly performed ; the urine is at the beginning clear and
ammoniacal, but later it is muddy, and the excrements are
hard and covered with mucus. Diarrhoea is not unfrequently
present, and the discharges may be even mixed with blood,
while the animal exhibits a most marked degree of debility.
With horses the penis hangs pendulous from the sheath, and

Period from A.D. 1815 to A.D. 1830. 105

with mares the lips of the vulva are seen in motion. The
throat as well as the skin is in motion, even when the cough
is not present. At the beginning of the disease, the horse
manifests a great desire to lie down, and he gets up but
slowly ; more advanced, he lies almost continually. When
the malady has attained its highest degree, the respiration is
most troubled, and the animal even twists himself about as if
to obtain relief from his sufferings ; it is at this period that we
often observe convulsive movements ; the breath is sometimes
foetid, and the same odour is perceptible in the suppuration
set up by setons ; oedematous tumours show themselves on
different parts of the body, oftenest about the thighs and
under the abdomen. Some horses have had their head
tumefied, but only with one of these has the inflammation
extended to the interior of the mouth. The skin is clammy
and difficult to clean, and the hair is rough. The disease lasts
five, nine, and sometimes even twenty-one days or more ; the
salutary crisis is brought about by diarrhoea or general sweats,
and muddy sedimentous urine. After death, an examination
of the bodies presents the following changes : the hair is easily
pulled out ; the muscles are relaxed, and are softer and paler
than usual ; in the cellular tissue are found many deposits of
a yellowish fluid. An acrid heat remains for a long time after
death, and the mass of the blood is found in a greater or less
state of dissolution ; the lungs are gangrenous, their colour is
like that of goose excrement, and they are frequently dis-
organized to such a degree that we can scarcely recognise
them because of their state of putrefaction. This latter is
more or less extensive ; not unfrequently it invades the whole
mass of the lungs, at other times it only occupies certain parts
of these organs ; while again the air-cells are found dilated to
the size of a nut, or collapsed and impermeable to the air.
Abscesses in the substance of the lungs are not very rare.
In the thoracic cavity is always discovered much fluid, variable
as to quantity and quality, being sometimes clear, yellow, and
without any marked smell ; at other times thick, dark or
grumous-coloured, foetid, and mixed with blood ; the lungs
are often covered by an exudation of plastic lymph which

io6 History of Animal Plagites.

forms yellow false membranes resembling cheese. The pleura
and its prolongations are always noticed to be in a state of
inflammation or even gangrenous ; the pericardium externally
is the same ; the heart is usually normal, although at times
it is larger and softer than in health, and speckled with
ecchymosed patches ; the presence of fibrinous concretions in
the auricles and ventricles is often remarked ; the veins of
the stomach and intestines are distended with blood ; blueish
stains of diff'erent dimensions, and at times aphtha, are found
in these organs, but they are rare, and in the majority of cases
all these viscera are in a healthy state.

' The etiology of the disease is not yet determined ; but it
seems reasonable to suppose that the affected horses had
acquired a particular predisposition, which, through debili-
tating influences— such as great fatigue, musty hay, bad water,
marshy localities ; cold, damp, draughty stables ; poor pas-
ture ; cold, foggy weather, etc.— became changed into actual
disease capable of propagating itself by contagion. One
thing is at any rate certain, and that is, that many of these
conditions were in existence at Malmoe, where the malady
first manifested itself. The whole of Scania, without even
excepting Malmoe and its environs, is low ; and this is why
we observe scrofulous diseases in man to be almost endemic
there. The summer of 1824 was remarkable for sudden transi-
tions from heat to cold, and for humidity. During the
autumn the sky was always cloudy, and, as a consequence,
the weather was misty and cold. It must also be mentioned
that many malignant maladies attacked the human species,
as well as animals, during the preceding and current year
Typhus fevers and small-pox were rife among men, and
hydrophobia among the domestic animals ; inflammation, fol-
lowed by gangrene of the spleen, committed great ravages
among cattle in the island of Gottland and some other pro-
vinces ; and even the reindeer in Lapland have been attacked
by diseases. It seems to be beyond doubt that violent
volcanic influences have been the cause of the phenomena I
have indicated ; yet there is another source from whence the
disease may probably have been derived : the contagion came

Period from A.D. 1815 to A.D. 1830, 107

hither from Denmark, where the disease manifested itself
before it was observed with us. Our neighbours (the Danes)
had not ceased to sell their horses here until prohibited.' ^

In France the disease appeared at Rouen at the commence-
ment of the winter. In April it was very prevalent in the
departments of Calvados, La Manche, Mayenne, Maine-et-
Loire, the Loire Inferieure, Sarthe, Loire-et-Cher, Eure-et-
Loire, Loiret, Marne, and other places. The mortality was
more considerable in the Lower Seine and at Paris than
anywhere else, and it was not generally characterised as a
contagious malady. Girard's description is perhaps the best
of those published in France for illustrating the character of
this epizooty as it showed itself in that country : ' According
to the investigations collected and communicated by MM.
Prevost, senior and junior, veterinary surgeons at Rouen, the
first horses affected were observed at the commencement of
the winter in the valley of Fleury, distant about two myria-
metres from the principal town of the Lower Seine. This
valley, at the bottom of which runs a stream, and which is
encircled by high wooded hills to the north-west, appears to
have been not only the centre from whence the disease sprung,
but the theatre of its greatest ravages. ... It did not re-
semble any affection so much as that described by Chabert in
the "Veterinary Instructions," under the somewhat vague
name of anthracoid fever {fikvre charbonneiise). That which
occurred here, nevertheless, ought to be rather considered as
gastro-enteritis, nearly always complicated with angina, in-
flammation of the omentum, carditis, and pericarditis, and
sometimes also with pleurisy, pneumonia, and hepatitis. It
began with a sudden loss of appetite, hanging head, rigidity
of the dorso-lumbar region, and stiffness of the posterior
extremities. The movements of these parts became very re-
stricted, and progression embarrassed ; the animal dragged
his abdominal members, and reeled about much. The pulse
from the beginning began to augment in quickness, and
numbered from sixty to eighty beats a minute ; it was
as full as it was hard, and at other times it was weak and

Nordling. Recueil. de Med. Veter. vol. ii. p. 444.

io8 History of Animal Plagues.

almost imperceptible. The abdomen became tense without
being tympanitic ; the respiration laborious ; the mouth dry
and pasty ; and progression more and more difficult. The
majority of the horses could only maintain the recumbent
position ; others could scarcely stand ; and some never moved
from a fixed attitude from fear of falling. In proportion as
the disease progressed, so did the vital powers appear to con-
centrate in the interior ; the skin lost nearly all its sensibility
— to such an extent, indeed, that there arrived a period during
which the horse exhibited no pain, and when, to establish
points of derivation and bring about an advantageous revul-
sion towards the surface, incisions were made in the skin.
The alvine evacuations became rare and difficult ; the dry
pellets were covered with a glairy mucus. The urine was
sometimes laden with salts, and red-coloured, sometimes
limpid and crude ; it accumulated in the bladder, and the
animal was unable to expel it, notwithstanding continual
efforts. Nearly all were heard, when the disease was at its
height, to grind their teeth at certain intervals, and all had a
marked elevation of temperature at the root of the mane and
overthewholeparietal region. These pathognomonic symptoms
were constant, though variable in their intensity, and nearly
always accompanied by other particular phenomena. Thus,
lachrymation often announced the invasion of the disease ;
the conjunctivae were infiltrated, assumed a purple tint on a
yellowish ground (if we may so speak), and were marked by
vesicles ; the humours of the eye looked hazy, and the lucid
cornea lost its transparency. Commonly enough the sheath
or the udder were cedematous ; the penis was extruded and
remained pendent, as if paralyzed ; and the scrotum, instead
of being moistened with an unctuous matter, was covered with
a dried substance. In many subjects the posterior members
became swollen, which rendered walking all the more difficult.
The beating of the flanks, which was frequently remarked,
was never constant, but continued for a certain time, then
disappeared, and was renewed again at irregular intervals.
Generally the tongue became foul, was covered with a black
epidermoid layer, increasing in volume and density; its sides

Period from A.D. 1815 to A.D. 1830. 109

and its point more particularly were marked by reddish-
purple blotches, and its inferior face covered with vesicles and
ulcerations more or less deep and extensive. This condition
of the tongue constantly denoted a subacute inflammation of
the posterior parts of the mouth, and always betokened a
troublesome complication. Many of the sick, pressed by
thirst, sought to drink continually ; while others refused all
kinds of fluids. Lastly, in a small number, tetanic symptoms
declared themselves, and gave to the malady a degree of
gravity which scarcely permitted us to hope for a cure. A
particular feature which has been witnessed by many veterinary
surgeons, and which I myself have had occasion to verify, is,
that in general the epizooty exercised its ravages much more
severely in low localities — particularly those which were damp
and situated on the banks of rivers — than in places which
were dry and elevated. Not only was the number of sick
much greater in the valleys, but there the mortality was more
considerable. According to the Messrs. Prevost, the late colds
have had the most marked effect in causing the disease to
become more general and fatal. In the last fifteen days of
March our calculations and those of M. Prevost, senior, fixed
the number of deaths among the horses in the Valley of
Rouen to be one in every twenty to twenty-five attacked
[Moniteiir, April 2, 1825). Since the ist of April the stables
of the Royal Veterinary College at Alfort had been almost
full of sick, and we daily reckoned one or two deaths out of
from ten to twelve animals seized. It appeared equally certain
that the affected became daily more numerous in Paris, and
that the mortality was actually found to be from fifteen to
twenty a day, according to the information received from
Montfaucon (extensive knackeries) and from veterinary
surgeons in the capital,

' In the districts which are open and exposed, the deaths
were extremely rare, and there were cantons where not one
fatal case occurred in fifty sick horses. Inspection of the
dead demonstrated that the principal lesions resided in the
digestive organs ; and that the heart, pericardium, omentum,
and liver, as well as the lungs, participated more or less.

no History of Animal Plagues.

though in different ways, in the derangements caused by the
epizooty. What is more, it was remarked that there was con-
stantly one of these organs most seriously involved, and that
this organ always presented appearances as grave as the
others were less affected. This last observation, which we
have had to make as often as we saw horses opened, ex-
plains why it is so difficult, during the progress of the disease,
to draw well-founded inductions in order to establish our
diagnosis and prognosis. An inflammation more or less in-
tense was constantly noticed in the mucous membrane of the
pharynx but above all in the stomach and intestines ; though
in variable degrees and complications. The lateral portions
of the tongue were covered with ulcers, similar to aphthae.
The back parts of the mouth were of a more or less intense
red, and sometimes perforated by small holes like so many
ulcers ; and not unfrequently these follicles were of a con-
siderable size, and their apertures were wide. The surface of
the stomach presented a redness more or less intense and
extensive, particularly in the right sac ; it was sometimes seen
throughout the whole extent of this organ. We had occasion
to notice in various parts of the mucous membrane, ulceratmg
petechia' and gangrenous abrasions. In the majority of
examinations, the external surface of the small intestme ex-
hibited on many parts numerous small punctures {piquetures)
more or less distant from each other. The internal face of the
same intestine, always covered with a tenacious thick mucus,
was frequently covered with petechial patches. In some cases
the matters enclosed in the small intestine were solid and
dried up The caecum was nearly always the portion of the
intestinal tube in which the mucous membrane was most
affected. Not only was the redness the most marked in this
part, but it exhibited small ulcers and black effusions like
Lnirene • this alteration was continued to the duplicature of
fhe colon,' though always less conspicuous. The omentum,
red and inflamed, was frequently found torn in many of its
involutions. After the digestive tract, the heart was the
organ most frequently much involved. The pericardium,
whose external surface is commonly infiltrated by a yellow

Period from A.D. 1815 io A.D. 1830. iii

humour, contained a more or less abundant quantity of
serum, at times tinged with blood, and showed traces of
intense inflammation. In many subjects the heart was more
than double its ordinary volume ; its substance, pale and dis-
coloured, offered little consistency and was easily torn ; its
external surface was inflamed and exhibited petechiae — the
result of ecchymoses or gangrene. The internal cavities
always contained very dark blood, which was thick and looked
as if coagulated; concretions of an albuminous or fibrinous
character were often found. The internal surfaces of this
organ presented traces of subacute inflammation ; the redness
was especially remarkable in the tricuspid and mitral valves,
and it extended into all the arterial and venous trunks : but
this kind of alteration, when it existed, was not present to the
same degree in all the cavities of the heart, nor yet in the
vascular conduits ; and undoubtedly this goes far to explain
the anomalies which were witnessed in the circulatory system
during the course of the malady. The liver was sometimes
of an extraordinary volume, and its substance pale and with-
out consistence ; in some cases its external surface exhibited
ecchymoses and recent adhesions — evidently the consequences
of inflammation. The lungs were at times simply congested ;
at others, hepatized in many places, or much inflamed at
their borders. In very many instances the kidneys had
attained a considerable volume ; and their texture, gorged
with blood, was easily torn. The bladder, most frequently
distended with urine, shared more or less in the inflammation
of the other viscera. As a general rule the brain did not show
much alteration, and only in one instance have I met with
decided inflammation on the external surface of the right lobe
of that organ. Notwithstanding this, however, it has always
been observed that the spinal canal, about the middle of the
dorsal region, had a reddish-coloured serous infiltration in the
texture of the meninges. Nothing is known as to the primary
causes which have given rise to and developed this malady ;
we have not sought to decide whether bad forage or atmos-
pherical derangement — such as the constant north winds
succeeding the long rains — have had most to do in generating

112 History of Animal Plagues.

it ; or whether the cause ought not to be exclusively attributed
to' faulty hygiene, to the water given to drink, to insalubrious
habitations, etc. It is very presumable that some of these
agents have exercised a morbid influence on the organization
of animals ; and if we bear in mind that in the Lower Seine
the epizooty first appeared in a deep valley, where the air is
charged with moisture, and where the hay and other forage
was badly harvested this year, we may be convinced that the
humidity, the marshy exhalations, and the defective aliment
have not been foreign to the development of this prevalent
disease. Notwithstanding the information collected from all
sides and the observations made by ourselves and many other
veterinary surgeons, we are not in a position to give a definite
opinion on so important a question, which, like that pertaining
to so many other epizootics whose history we possess, remams
insoluble The chief point to discuss is whether the causes
which gave rise to this affection in the Valley of Fleury have
been the same as those which have developed it at Rouen,
Gournay, Bolbec, Beauvais, etc. ; or, in other words, if the pro-
pagation of the epizooty ought not to be as much owing to
the existence of a contagium as to a peculiar atmospherical
constitution, to the use of damaged food, or to any other
occult cause ? Without pretending to decide on the merits of
the question, we may say that the presumptions are in favour

of contagion. , , , ^i i.^

' The only doubt in such a case, although there may be
little foundation for it, should urgently indicate the necessity
for taking proper measures to arrest the progress of the
epizooty, and to carefully remove the healthy horses from the

centres of infection.'^ . ^

M Durand, veterinary surgeon to the 6th regiment of
Dragoons then in garrison at Haguenau, near S rasburg,
fcporthe epizo5ty'as having existed among the horsesrn
his charge during the first four months of the year. He

Karlsruhe, 1825.

Period from A.D. 1815 to A.D. 1830. 113

named it ' inflammatory fever,' and says it was first observed
among the remount horses brought from Germany ; it after-
wards attacked the other horses of the corps. The symptoms
which, he says, characterized the malady were, at first : absolute
refusal of food— solid or liquid ; accelerated movement of the
flanks ; fits of shivering ; small, hard, and quick pulse ; eyes
dull and lachrymose; the visible mucous membranes of
a more or less deep yellow colour, sometimes almost black ;
frequent yawning; the mouth dry and pasty; urine scanty
and oily-looking. The vertebral column rigid ; gait stagger-
ing ; and the walls of the chest and abdomen very sensitive
on percussion. About twenty-four hours afterwards, the
respiration was more laboured and hurried ; a foetid diarrhoea
set in, the anus remaining relaxed; the tongue black; pulse
very quick and extremely weak ; a dark-coloured glutinous
discharge from the nostrils ; the expired air had a foetid and
gangrenous odour. The animal gradually became weaker,
and expired on the third or fourth day. The cadaveric lesions
were : the cerebral viscera covered with black spots, m.ore or
less extensive; the lining membrane of the trachea, oesophagus,
and stomach very dark-coloured ; lungs gangrenous ; the
viscera in the abdomen marked in places with the same kind
of ecchymotic spots as in the cerebrum, and sometimes
softened ; the liver and kidneys three or four times more
voluminous than in health ; the lining membrane of the
bladder of a deep yellow colour. The bodies of the animals
soon after death became greatly swollen, putrefied rapidly,
and exhaled an insupportable gangrenous odour.^

The malady attracted much attention at Paris, from its
affecting so many horses simultaneously and with such

1 Dtiraiid. Recueil de Med. Veter. vol. ii. p. 397. Besides the above writer
on this epizooty as it appeared in France, the following are to be i^articularly
noted : Leblanc. De la Gastro-Enterite lipizootique, Maladie des Chevaux
regnante. Paris, 1828. Raynard. Mem. sur I'Epizobtie des Chevaux qui a
regnee et qui regne encore en France et dans divers autres pays de I'Europe.
Lyons. 1825. Huzard. Note sur la Maladie lipizootique de Paris. Paris, 1825.
Precis de TEpizootie, ou Fii-vre Muqueuse qui r^gne sur les Chevaux d'un grande
nombre de Departements de la France. Nevers, 1825. Damoiscau. Rapport sur
la Maladie Epizootique rdgnante. Paris, 1825. Cosson. Sur la Gastro-Entero-
Mesenterite. Recueil de Med. Veter. vol. ii.

8

114 History of Animal Plagues.

severity, and its pathological anatomy appears to have received
more than ordinary attention from distinguished investigators.
Among these was Professor Andral, who says : ' In the year
1825 a violent distemper prevailed among the horses at Paris,
and in some of the provinces. The most general symptoms
were those of gastro-intestinal irritation ; but, with very few
exceptions, the thoracic viscera were likewise implicated, the
breathing being greatly affected, although there was not much
cough. During this epidemic, M. Dupuy and I dissected
many horses at the slaughter-houses at Montfaucon. The
animals were scarcely slaughtered when we proceeded to
examine them, and, in many cases, the internal membrane of
the heart and aorta presented a bright-red colour. At the
same time M. Bouley, junior, one of our most distinguished
veterinarians, examined more than fifty horses that had died
of the same epidemic. His dissections were always made
within from half an hour to three hours after the death of the
animal, and in almost every instance he found the internal
membrane of the heart and aorta of a bright scarlet or purple
colour. On the other hand, MM. Rigot and Trousseau, who
likewise opened a great number of horses, state that they never
found any appearance of redness in the heart or arteries when
the dissection was made shortly after death, but that they
always found it when the dissection was deferred for several
hours. This difference in the result of our dissections is to
be accounted for by the circumstance of our researches having
been made at different periods ; mine during the year 1825,
and theirs in 1828, when the first inflammatory disease had
ceased. There is, therefore, nothing extraordinary in the
different results that we obtained; and it appears to me that
the very circumstance of the redness of the heart and arteries
so constantly observed during the first epidemic, and not
observed after it had ceased, affords an additional reason for
supposing that it was produced by a morbid condition of the
part. As to the nature of that morbid condition, I think it
highly probable that it was inflammation of the coats of the
arteries. These horses during their illness presented decided
symptoms of disease in the thoracic viscera ; and as no

Period fi'om A.D. 18x5 to A.D. 1830. 115

morbid appearance was found in the lungs, we have nothing
to attribute these symptoms to but the affection of the heart
and large vessels, characterized : ist. By the uniform red
colour of their internal membrane; 2nd. By a remarkable
degree of softening in the muscular structure of the heart ; and
3rd. By inflammation of the pericardium, and effusions of
different kinds into its cavity. From these facts I conclude
that the uniform redness of the internal coats of arteries may,
in some cases, be the result of inflammation. In one of the
cases recorded by M. Bouillard, the internal membrane in
those parts in which it was red, was covered by a thin layer
of albuminous matter. This surely is tolerable evidence of
the existence of inflammation.'^

The epizooty showed itself in Italy about the same period
as in Sweden and France, and exhibited a more marked
preference for the lungs and their serous investment.^

We have seen that it prevailed near Strasburg during the
first four months of 1825, but it does not appear to have
reached Switzerland until nearly the middle of the year ; as it
is only in May that it is reported attacking the horses in the
Cantons of Bale, Soleure, Berne, Friburg, and Aargau. Though
the reporters believed it to have come from France, yet they
do not seem to have considered it contagious.

'In the month of May, 1825, there were reports in the
newspapers of an epizooty among horses in France, and
especially in Alsace, which had attracted universal notice;
indeed, a friend wrote to me from Belfort, that this dis-
ease, which was of a typhoid nervous character {typhdsen
nervenfiebers), was making great progress and killing many
horses. According to all reliable accounts, it came from
France and Switzerland ; passed through most of the cantons,
and attacked very large numbers of horses. After having
become thoroughly acquainted with its character, the loss
sustained from it was trifling.' ^ Veterinary Surgeon Anker,

^ G. Andral. Heniatologie Pathologique.

^ Toggia. Sulla Peripneumonia Epizootica manifestatasi sui Cavelli, etc., sul
fine di 1824 a Torino. Turin, 1825.

* Ithm. Ansichten einer im Jahre 1825 herrschend gewesenen Pferdseuche.
Busch. Zeitschrift, vol. ii. p. 55.

8—2

ii6

History of Animal Plagues.

who described the malady as it appeared in Switzerland,
asserts that the lungs and the air-passages in general were
most frequently inflamed.^ It appeared here and there in
1826 and 1827.

In Germany, its outbreak appears to have occurred at the
same time as in France and Italy. A Wurtemberg govern-
ment publication^ of the i6th of July, 1825, says: 'In the
early part of this year, news has been received, that in the
latter months of 1824, a rapidly fatal disease among horses
appeared in the northern provinces of France, and extended
itself towards the south. From this, as well as from later
accounts, it would appear that it is the same as the intercurrent
erysipelatous fever (" unterlaufende rothlaufartige krankheit"
— febris intercurrens erysipelatodes) which in the year 1805
established itself in Northern Germany, and which extended
itself southwards, when it became known as the Hanoverian
horse-plague." In proportion as it was rapid and insidious
at its commencement and in its consequent paralyzing effects,
so did it become milder as it travelled from its source (France).
It seemed to have no power of infection, but arose spontane-
ously. The characteristic symptoms of the disease consist in
rapidly spreading inflammatory appearances ; serous swell-
ings ; torpidity of the small intestines, and sanguinary
suffusions therein ; but without any traces of effused fibrine,
the necessary and never-failing constituent of suppuration.
In its milder form, the symptoms usually are : loss of appetite,
lassitude, the eyes redder than usual, the conjunctival mem-
brane being much suffused with blood ; tears flow from the
eyes ; the heart's action is quickened, and the pulse soft ;
heaving flanks. The accelerated circulation, which generally
does not precede intermittent fever, usually disappears in
twenty-four hours ; but serous swellings arise in various parts
of the body— particularly on the head, hind-quarters, thighs,
and about the scrotum, sheath and belly, extending even to
the feet. With proper treatment the appetite returns, the

1 Anker. Abhandlung uber das 1825 unter den Pferdeti epizootisch geherrschtcn
Nervenfiebers. Bern, 1826.

2 Sammlung. von Wurtemberg. Verordn. p. 48.

Period from A.D. 1815 to A.D. 1830. 117

lassitude disappears, and in about seven days the animal
recovers. This affection is distinguishable from a purely
inflammatory disease by the absence of fibrinous exudations,
and from the usual yearly erysipelatous fever " rothlaufartigen
jahreskrankheit"— /^^m annua cestiralis erysipelatodes — apart
from its geographical progression — by the rapid course of the
fever, as well as the swellings showing themselves in those
parts nearest the heart, whence they become diffused, and
the serous fluid gravitates towards the feet ; whereas in the
summer fever, known as splenic apoplexy (inilzbrand), the
tumours form near the pasterns, and, extending upwards,
endanger life.'

In the Duchy of Nassau, Franque^ declares it was present
so early as the spring of 1824. After referring to the nervous
epizooty {nervose seuche) which appeared among the horses in
Prussia, Pomerania, and the Mark, caused, as he asserts, by
the influence of the weather and a combination of other un-
healthy circumstances, and which more especially in 1823
spread itself much in Germany, and in 1824-5 in France, he
says : ' Whether its spread is attributable to contagion, as the
French affirm, there is no reliable evidence to show. Most
veterinarians consider it non-infectious, and are rather of
opinion that it arose and is maintained by epizootic influences.
The first traces of this nervous epizooty of horses manifested
themselves in the spring and summer of 1824 at Nassau ; but
not until the summer of 1825 did the cases become most
numerous. By the autumn of that year it had disappeared.
The greatest number of sick in 1825 was in the neighbour-
hood of the Lahn, Wiesbaden, and the Taunus. It generally
attacked the horses of carriers, post-horses, and those which
traders brought from other localities. Among country horses
it was rare ; and it was neither so general nor so virulent as
to render public measures necessary. Plow many suffered
from it is not known ; but, according to reports, out of about
thirty horses only one died. Of the contagious properties of
the malady no certain conclusions could be arrived at ; but it
was a fact, that if it appeared in a stable, all the horses there

^Franquc. Op. cit. p. 27. Dusch. Zeitschrift, vol. ii. p. i.

ii8 History of Animal Plagues.

were attacked ; if other horses, however, were brought into
the stable at a later period, these usually remained healthy.
The disease varied with the age and constitution of the
animal. In most horses the greatest weariness and dulness
were shown ; in others there were symptoms of great ex-
citability of the brain and nervous system, and great uneasi-
ness and often fury ; so that the owners thought them affected
with the staggers or madness. The disease was less serious
when swellings formed on the fore and hind legs, on the
sheath, and under the belly ; but it was a fatal sign when
these appeared upon the head and neck, and became erratic.
The following were the most characteristic symptoms which
the disease presented in our neighbourhood : a sudden dimi-
nution of appetite was the first indication of the horse being
affected ; most horses refused their oats at once, while others
still ate hay with avidity, and yet a few would begin to eat,
and as if in forgetfulness stop and hold the food in their
mouth. With most of the sick the thirst was so intense that
they could never be satisfied, while others drank nothing at
all. Soon after, the horse became dull, hung its head under
the manger, drooped its ears, or stood as if asleep, with
elevated neck and head, half-shut eyes, and with fore and
hind legs drawn close together. Others were uneasy, fidgeted
about in the stall, shook their heads, ground their teeth, became
frenzied, and after a time subsided into a heavy stupor, in which
they were insensible to all external impressions, until after a
short period, when they again became restless. Their gait
was listless and slow ; they reeled about in their hind-quarters
as if paralyzed ; the skin was dry, and the temperature
variable — often exceedingly hot and soon after deathly cold.
In most cases, tears ran from the eyes at the beginning of the
disease ; but in others the eyes were swollen and highly
injected. The colour of the interior of the mouth was not
always a criterion — now it was pale and filled with a ropy
slime ; the tongue, on the contrary, was dry and greyish-
yellow; at other times it was of a purple-red without any
saliva, and the tongue of a brownish colour. On the sides
and the tip of the tongue there were always noticed purple-

Period from A.D. 1815 to A.D. 1830. 119

red and yellow spots. The pituitary membrane was pale or
red-coloured ; and from the nostrils usually flowed a yellowish
fluid. The heart-beats, in the first days of the disease, were
generally plainly perceptible— often quicker, but sometimes
also slower, than in health ; the pulse could scarcely be felt,
and like the heart's action, when the disease was more
advanced, it became greatly accelerated and irregular. The
fsces were scant at first, but soon became abundant, and a
large quantity of slime-covered, dark-green matter was passed.
Towards the later stages, diarrhoea was common ; if not too
frequent nor too watery and foul-smelling, it indicated con-
valescence. Nearly all the horses which suffered from this
disease had swellings on the limbs, sheath, and belly, or on
the neck and head. These were mostly watery, and felt
doughy and clammy ; only in a few cases were they very
much inflamed and hot. No less various than the symptoms
during life, were the appearances to be met with after death ;
putridity of the textures showed itself quickly ; the abdomen
became greatly distended, and from the nose issued a bloody
foam ; under the skin were found in various places— the
thighs, shoulders, and neck— yellowish-tinted, acrid accumu-
lations, often streaked with blood, and occasionally also with
black inflamed patches. The muscles were flabby and pale
like veal ; the substance of the brain was usually healthy, and
its bloodvessels very turgid ; the ventricles contained serum.
The spinal canal always showed a yellowish-red fluid, and the
dura mater was in many cases highly inflamed here and there.
In the thoracic cavity there was an accumulation of water :
the lungs, in some few horses, were adherent to the pleura
costalis and were of a deep red colour, with black streaks, and
friable ; in other cases they contained hard hepatized masses,
abscesses, or cavities. The heart was much dilated, pale, and
soft, with black stains, and full of black thick blood. On the
diaphragm and pleurae were occasionally observed large, dark-
red discolorations. But the most characteristic changes were
always found in the intestines. These contained a great
quantity of reddish-yellow flocculent fluid ; the stomach
either contained a mass of half-digested food, or it was quite

I20

History of Animal Plagues.

empty. Externally, these viscera showed traces of inflam-
mation, though this was sometimes limited to t?ie mucous
membrane towards the pylorus, which membrane was often
so softened as to be easily removed. The intestines were
frequently distended with gas, and the large intestines nearly
always exhibited patches of inflammation or gangrene. The
spleen was greatly enlarged, softened, and filled with thick,
black blood. The liver was usually of a dark-red hue, and so
soft as to be readily broken up.'

This epizooty of influenza prevailed extensively in Saxony
during this and the succeeding year,^ and it was still observed
in Brandenburg and Pomerania in 1827-8.2

A.D. 1826. Epidemic typhus prevailed in Ireland, and some
cases of yellow fever were reported. The winter on the
continent of Europe had been very rigorous, and the summer
was followed by exceedingly damp weather ; heavy rains
falling to such an extent that low-lying regions were in-
undated. Epidemic influenza was extensively prevalent in
the north-west countries, and continued during the following
year. In Holland it was so severe that the Dutch Govern-
ment was greatly alarmed, because nearly the whole popula-
tion was affected. In connection with this epidemy, we may
refer to the influenza of horses described for last year.

Vulpine hydrophobia was still prevalent in Germany.
Duke Henry, of Wurtemberg, had been making inquiries into
its nature, and concluded, from having found in the stomach
of the dead foxes wood, earth, stones, leaves, hair, and other
substances, that the malady was caused by hunger.^ When,
however, the disease was communicated this was not the case.
He also supposed that this fox-madness was not contagious
until it had reached its extreme stage, and that it might
possibly depend upon the corruption of the contents of the
gall-bladder, which were known to become more vitiated as

^ Brauell. Uber die seit mehrern Jahren in Deutschland unter den Pferden
herrschende Epizootie. Weimar, 1825. Also Dominik, Busch. Zeitschrift,
etc. vol. i. p. 106. 2 Dietridis. Handhuch d. Special. ratliolop;ie, etc. p. 655.

It is quite common to find foreign substances in the stpmach of rabid animals,
particularly earth and stones, which they swallow when their taste becomes
depraved or during the attacks of the disease.

Period from A.D. 1815 to A.D. 1830. 121

the disease increased, and were thrown into the stomach.^ In
Poland, twenty-three persons were bitten by a mad wolf.^

In Russia and Galicia malignant anthrax was very wide-
spread. In the latter country. Veterinary Surgeon Josephu
reports : ' The hot and dry summer had caused splenic
apoplexy to spread among the cattle and horses. It was,
however, the only epizooty then observed. Several people
who were engaged among the sick or dead animals suffered
from malignant carbuncle.'^

In Switzerland this malady was also present in the Canton
of Aargau. ' According to the hot or cold character of the
summer, a greater or less number of cattle are yearly
destroyed by this disease ; so it was that in September, 1826,
it appeared as a most destructive epizooty, for which there
was no remedy to be found in the district of Schufifarth. , In
October many more died, and the attacks were frequent,
though many also recovered. Especially was this the case
when the blood effused into the rectum and intestines was
timeously removed. A young man, a burgher's son, and the
blacksmith of the place, were very expert in this business ;
but they at last became affected with carbuncles on their
arms, and had serious fever, from which they suffered for a
long time. On taking the cattle up from grass the disease
disappeared.'*

In the department of the Loire, France, Grognier observed
an epizootic fever amongst cattle, which had existed for six
years, and was designated a ' fievre charbonneuse.' It was
supposed to have originated in Auvergne, and to be con-
tagious. Sometimes its most prominent symptoms were
those of pneumonia ; at other times of gastro-enteritis.^

During the summer of 1826, and commencement of the
autumn of 1827, what was termed an acute entero-peritonitis,
but which, from the symptoms and post-mortem appearances
described, bears a great resemblance to inflammatory or
anthracoid fever, broke out in many communes of the depart-

^ Bulletin Universel, vol. x. p. i6o. ^ Ilufeland's ]o\ixtiz\, vol. Ixiii.

^ CEsterreich. Med. Jahrbuch. * It/ien. Busch. Zeitschrift, vol. iii.

Grognier. Recueil de Med. Veter, vol. viii. p. 700.

122 History of Animal Plagues.

ment of Nicore, France. It chiefly attacked animals from
four to six years old, and which were strong and in good
condition. Some had been put in the meadows to fatten,
while others were employed in agricultural operations, and
probably kept without food during the day, until they were
turned into the pasture for the night. Cows, calves, and aged
oxen usually escaped. The symptoms were dulness, loss of
appetite ; those grazing left their companions and retired
beneath the hedges ; those at work becoming deaf to the
voice of the driver, and insensible to the goad. Rumination
soon ceased; general lassitude ensued, with peculiar weak-
ness of the posterior limbs and staggering. The respiration
was quickened ; the temperature of the skin exalted, chiefly
towards the shoulders and chest ; the back and loins were
tender, and the slightest pressure caused shrinking. The
head was protruded ; the ears and horns, from the base to
the point, hot ; the conjunctivae injected, with considerable
secretion of tears ; the muzzle hot and dry ; the mouth hot ;
the tongue enlarged ; the pulse from 70 to 80. The faeces
were hard, and covered with a glairy mucus, and that mucus,
when the disease had attained its full intensity, streaked with
blood. The urine was thick, oily, brown, and had a strong,
penetrating odour. The disease was most rapid in its pro-
gress, and if the animal was neglected beyond the first day,
it was irrevocably lost. The usual duration of the disease
was from three to seven days, but some suddenly dropped
and died. If early attacked the disease was easily arrested
in its progress ; but it was necessary to persevere in the use
of remedial means. The post-mortem appearances were, in
the abdomen : slight inflation of the bowels ; three or four
buckets of bloody serous fluid efl'used. Peritoneum univer-
sally inflamed, with numerous spots of ecchymosis. The
mesentery was likewise singularly spotted. A yellow gelatin-
ous infiltration, mixed with serum, was found about the
middle of the diaphragm, and in the whole of the pelvic
cavity ; the exterior of the bladder was likewise spotted.
This viscus contained a little brown urine, and the mucous
coat was highly inflamed towards its neck. The liver was

Period from A.D. 1815 to A.D. 1830. 123

enlarged, inflamed, and easily torn. The bile was thick and
flocculent, and had a pungent smell. The large intestines,
for a portion of their extent, contained clots of blood, some
of which were fibrous ; and the mucous coat was thickened,
and of a violet colour. The small intestines contained a
mucous fluid resembling the lees of port wine, and presented
intense inflammation. The rectum was sphacelous throughout
its whole extent. All the stomachs were likewise inflamed,
and the mucous coat was easily detached from the rumen.
In the thorax were found many pounds of fluid, resembling
that in the abdomen. The pleura was slightly inflamed, and
the lungs emphysematous. The pericardium was distended
with fluid, and covered with black spots. The heart showed
traces of inflammation, and had ecchymosed patches on its
internal surface. The right ventricle contained four ounces of
black blood, not coagulated, and small clots floating in it ;
the other cavities were empty. The principal arterial and
venous trunks presented nothing unusual. The mucous coat
of the trachea was slightly inflamed at its superior and
posterior part, and this inflammation was more intense at the
commencement of the bronchial tubes. Neither the brain
nor its membranes, nor the spinal cord, presented any extra-
ordinary lesion .... The causes were supposed to be :
keeping the cattle too long in low and wet meadows,
abounding with ranunculuses, rushes, and other plants more
or less acrid and irritating ; and while in the upland pasture,
the plants, less nutritive, were dried and withered by the
scorching sun, and rendered highly stimulating ; the drinking
of stagnant and muddy water in the marshes, and the little
precaution in getting rid of the carcases of those which had
perished. With regard to its contagiousness, it was believed
that it was only so in its third stage, when gangrenous spots
appeared on the viscera, and death was inevitable. Even
then, contact was necessary ; for when the healthy and the
diseased were separated by a hedge, the malady was not com-
municated.^

Bovine contagious pleuro-pneumonia appears to have been

^ Recueil de Med. Veter. vol. viii.

124 History of Animal Plagues.

entirely unknown in the department of the Nord, France,
until 1826. According to M. Lecoq, it owed its introduction
to the following circumstance. This rich department, in
order to have its surplus forage profitably utilized, purchased
every year in Franche-Comte numerous droves of cattle, and
as the disease was present in that region, these droves carried
the deadly contagion from their native mountains. For several
years it apparently only affected cattle which were strangers
to the department ; but the disease gradually spread among
the indigenous herds, and is now enzootic among them. It
has occasioned most serious losses.^

A.D. 1827. Epidemic influenza was yet prevalent in Gro-
ningen, Friesland, North Holland, Belgium, and Lower Ger-
many.

Glanders appears to have become unusually frequent in
England during this and the preceding year. Mr. Pritchard,
of Wolverhampton, states : ' In many cases of acute glanders
which came under my observation in 1826 and 1827 — a period
remarkable for the prevalence of glanders and the destruction
of a vast number of horses by it — such were the early mani-
festations of inflammatory action in the respiratory muco-
bronchial surfaces, that acute glanders was apparently pro-
duced by, or had commenced with, bronchitis.'^

In Colmar, France, an epizooty of catarrhal ophthalmia ap-
peared among horses, which deserves notice, from the singu-
larly rapid manner in which it spread. Dumalix, army
veterinary surgeon, is the reporter. ' In the early days of
last June, I was requested by several people in the town and
surrounding country to attend their horses, as the eyes of these
animals had suddenly become so lachrymose that they thought
some one had injured them. About this time, while grooming,
many dragoons also complained that their horses' eyes were
in the same condition. A careful inspection, however, did
not discover any trace of injury ; there was nothing but slight
palpebral tumefaction and much inflammation of the con-
junctiva. I then began to pay more attention to these cases ;

1 Journal de Med. Veter. de Lyon, second series, vol. iii. p. 402.

2 Pritchard. The Veterinarian, vol. xiii. p. 400.

Period from A.D. to A.D. \%2,o. 125

and the following Saturday, on my usual visit to Colmar,
where a hundred and fifty-five horses were on detachment, I
found three-fourths of their number suffering from this attack,
which, until then, I had looked upon as trifling. I pointed
out to the civilians and the dragoons the necessity for fre-
quently bathing the eyes with cold water. But this very
simple measure, which in a multitude of similar cases pro-
duces good effects, did not in this instance have the desired
result. The circumstance was mentioned to the Colonel,
who thought it necessary to see these horses himself, and my
colleague, M. Philippe, veterinary surgeon ist class, accom-
panied him. The result of our inspection was to find all the
officers' and troop horses forming the detachment affected in
this manner. . . . M. Heitz, department veterinary surgeon,
in the course of his practice, had made the same observations.
Should we attribute this enzooty to the great heat which had
prevailed in the month of June, when the temperature rose to
252° (centigrade) ? It was the same at Neu-Brisack, distant
three leagues from here ; four squadrons were stationed at
that place, and yet none of the horses had ophthalmia. . . .
Nevertheless, and whatever may be the occasional cause of
this ophthalmia, it is always correct to assert that it is enzootic
(epizootic ?), as about six hundred horses have been attacked,
and of these at least eight have been submitted to very com-
plicated medical treatment, which was not followed by bene-
ficial results for five or six weeks. On the arrival of M.
Philippe at Colmar, we joked together at the large number of
horses I had to treat ; but at five o'clock in the evening, when
I went to the stable where his horse stood, to assure myself
that his orders about feeding it had been attended to, I ob-
served this animal's left eye shedding tears in great abundance.
The day after his arrival at Neu-Brisack, the mare which had
been ridden by his dragoon was attacked. What was the
origin of this case more particularly P'^

Prinz has described an epizooty among dogs which com-
menced in Germany this year, and to which he gave the name
of the 'yellow fever of dogs.' It merits attention, when ex-

' Dumalix. Journal Pratique de Med. Veter. vol. iii. p. 22.

126 History of Animal Plagites.

amined in connection with the remarkable epizooty of 1761.
He writes : ' Before the jaundice in dogs manifested itself,
there were observed symptoms of digestive derangement,
namely, loss of appetite, vomiting, and diarrhoea, with or
without fever ; but one could not lay much stress upon these
symptoms, as they are often induced by errors in feeding and
improper lodging. The gums were swollen, loosened, became
red, and were easily bled ; or there were yellow, foul-smelling
enlargements on them. This malady, however, was not
dangerous, and with such simple treatment as a purgative
given at the commencement, was easily cured. The year 1828
v/as remarkable, however, not only for the many diseases of
the digestive organs among dogs, but for a far more unusual,
and in more than one respect dangerous, affection of the same
class. There came to the veterinary hospital at Dresden,
from time to time, thirty dogs with the ordinary symptoms of
indigestion — ten with vomiting, nine with diarrhoea, six with
extraordinary manifestations of this complaint, accompanied
by fever ; which manifestations were not noticeable among
fifty-six young dogs labouring under the malady. Rabies
among dogs was also unusually frequent this year, inasmuch
as seven mad dogs were sent to the institution. This outbreak
was repeated in the two succeeding years.

' The first cases of jaundiced dogs were brought to the
hospital in July, 1828, for treatment; in September and
November several others were brought ; and one other in
February, 1829. The number of dogs attacked by this
disease and brought to us for treatment only amounted to
eight. This, however, must not be taken as the total number
affected, for many proprietors of dogs which were ill preferred
taking the advice of huntsmen and others. None of the
owners could assign any cause for its appearance ; and as to
this, it may be well worth while to consider the peculiarities
of the weather. This, which in the summer of 1827 was un-
usually hot, was in 1828 remarkable for its humidity — and
especially in the months of January, March, June, July, and
August. Twenty-eight storms, accompanied by deluges of
rain, came from various points and broke over Dresden and

Period from A.D. to A.D. 1830, 127

the neighbourhood. In Southern Europe earthquakes were
numerous ; the barometer rose and fell rapidly ; the tempera-
ture was low. The precursory symptoms of the disease con-
sisted in an appearance of general indisposition ; the dogs lay
a great deal, or, when obliged to move, evinced weariness, and
hung their heads ; they ate little or nothing, but drank often
and with avidity ; after drinking, however, they were easily
excited to vomiting, and brought up a whitish-coloured
phlegm. Constipation was present, and the faeces when passed
were dark, and often blood-coloured ; the urine was a dark,
greenish-yellow. On a closer examination of one of these
sick dogs, the nose was found to be cold, but rather dry; a
foul smell came from the mouth, the mucous membrane of
which was yellow ; the temperature of the body was pretty
regular, but rather diminished ; there was loss of condition ;
the hair was smooth ; the heart or pulse showed no striking
alteration. These symptoms lasted for three or four days,
after which they were increased. The yellow colour of the
mucous membranes became more intense — and especially
was this noticeable under the tongue and the white of the
eye, and also where the skin was light-coloured, towards the
abdomen ; the inner sides of the thighs and the ears were of
a dusky yellow. When standing, diseased animals drew their
feet together, and appeared " tucked up many evinced pain
on manipulation of the belly ; the appetite was entirely gone,
and attempts to eat the smallest quantity of food were followed
by severe vomiting of a yellowish-green slime. The thirst
increased ; constipation was present, and the faeces were soft,
but of a light clay-colour ; the urine was of a dark yellow tint,
and was often passed ; the breathing was slow and tranquil ;
the breath was of a normal temperature, and there was no
noticeable cough. The contractions of the heart were very
plainly felt ; the pulse was full, soft, and intermittent, num-
bering from 83 to 85 per minute. The sick dogs had frequent
fits of shivering and slight convulsions, and became quite
prostrated. From this period the disease made rapid progress:
the smell from the mouth became highly offensive ; the gums
became spongy, of a deep red, and were often covered with

128

History of Animal Plagues.

yellow spots or ulcers, which latter easily bled ; the eyelids
were swollen, and were often glued together with a yellow,
purulent mucus ; the eye became languid and lifeless ; the
body swayed to and fro, especially in the posterior extremities;
the temperature of the body was low. Many of the diseased
became unconscious, so that they neither knew their masters
nor answered to their name; and they either lay at full
length, or, when in motion, knocked against objects. The
pulse was then small, weak, and quickened to over lOO a
minute ; the heart palpitated against the wall of the chest so
strongly that its shock could be distinctly perceived. The
breathing was of a wheezing nature, in consequence of the
accumulation of mucus in the air-passages of the head, which
secretion also flowed from the eyelids and the prepuce. In
many cases, on the seventh day, a large quantity of dark
decomposed blood came away from the nostrils, especially
from the right one. The breathing became at last laborious,
and death quietly took place from exhaustion on the fifth
or seventh day. A long time elapsed before the rigor
mortis set in, though the body soon became cold. On re-
moval of the skin, its inner surface was coloured a darkish
yellow; the cellular tissue and all the muscular envelopes
were of the same hue ; the superficial bloodvessels were turgid
with blood, and there were frequently observed red spots or
patches in the subcutaneous textures. The muscles were of
a healthy red colour, and were tolerably supplied with fat.
The mouth showed a dusky yellow tinge covered with a dirty-
looking mucus, and reddish patches were ap^jarent. The gums
were swollen, and separated from the bones. On the inner
surface of the lips and the cheeks, under the tongue, and on
the palate, were noticed spots which were elevated, of a yellow
colour, and which felt tough or friable ; when these were re-
moved, a deep cavity was left, which looked as if cut out. In
the abdomen, the omentum and epicordis were marbled with
petechia ; the stomach was contracted or collapsed, but not
otherwise altered externally ; it contained no aliment, but
frequently a thick greyish-yellow mucus ; the mucous mem-
brane had a dirty yellow appearance, and oftentimes reddish

Period from A.D. 1815 to A.D. 1830. 129

patches containing extravasated blood. The small intestines
likewise contained a similar fluid, and their lining membrane
had also many dark-red streaks or patches. The large intestines
contained a thick pea-soup coloured mucus, and their longi-
tudinal bands were dark-coloured. The spleen was atrophied,
pale, and deficient in blood. In only one animal did it appear
larger than usual, and at the same time dark and unevenly
congested. The liver was, generally speaking, somewhat
larger than usual, and often remarkably enlarged. It was on
its upper surface of a dark or reddish-brown, with patches and
streaks of a light-yellow colour ; its anterior surface had in
some cases a thick yellow layer of lymph over it, and by this
it contracted adhesions with the posterior surface of the dia-
phragm. The investing membrane of the liver under the
exudation was friable, or covered with red spots ; the sub-
stance of that organ was often of a natural consistency ; at
the same time, in those places where the red patches were
situated it was friable, and in one instance it was disorganized.
The bloodvessels of the liver, as well as those of the whole
venae-portal system, were filled with dark, partially coagulated
blood; oftentimes the biliary ducts were distended with
ropy bile ; but more particularly were the gall-bladders full
of a thick, viscid, black, brown, or greenish-coloured bile ;
this bile had exuded into the textures in the neighbour-
hood of this receptacle. The texture of the kidneys was of
a pale-yellow colour, somewhat softened, and their blood-
vessels always contained much blood. The bladder contained
but little urine, and in one case it contained coagula of blood ;
its lining membrane had often petechise. The Schneiderian
membrane, and that of the larynx and trachea, appeared yellow;
the thyroid glands were in some few cases enlarged; the
bronchial tubes contained a dark fluid blood, in which floated
small clots. The lungs were collapsed, and showed many
dark places on their surfaces ; the pericardium was of a yellow
hue, and had within it a small quantity of yellow fluid. The
heart was flabby, spotted within and without by red discoloura-
tions ; and in its cavities, especially the right one, were dark-
red and yellow masses of blood. In the cranium, the dura

9

I30

History of A^iimai Plagues.

mater had a remarkably distinct yellow colour, and the blood-
vessels of the pia mater were very full of blood. The brain
itself was shrunken and soft. From the vertebral sheath there
flowed a yellow fluid, and the membranes of the spinal cord
were in a similar condition to those of the brain. The sub-
stance of the spinal cord itself had a yellowish appearance, and
in the lumbar region was softer than in the other portions.'^

At Calcutta, according to Dr. Marshall, great numbers of
dogs died in the streets with choleraic symptoms. At Char-
colly also, fifteen-sixteenths of the dogs perished in the same
way during a severe visitation of the disease ; and, at a later
period, half the dogs in Madras died, with vehement vomiting
and purging.^

During this and the two following years, there was a great
drought and destruction of animals in South America, which
to this day is known as the ' gran secco.' All vegetation
failed, the brooks were destitute of water, and it has been
computed that at Buenos Ayres alone there was a loss of at
least a million head of cattle. Multitudes of birds, wild
animals, and horses also perished from the want of food and
water.^

In the spring of 1S27 'epizootic ekzema' appeared in
Reggio, in Italy,* and during this and the following year
spread itself over Germany, Switzerland, and France.

It Italy it appears to have " been mistaken for glossanthrax
{cancro volante). At Como and Sondrio, this ' cancro volante '
was said to have affected three hundred and ninety-five cattle,
but in all probability it was the aphthous disease.^

In Bohemia it was prevalent from July, as the following

notice informs us :

' Commencing in the month of July, it raged throughout
Bohemia until December. It appeared at first in the sandy
low-lying plains, and in August spread to the mountainous

^Prinz. Das Gelbe oder Gallenfieber der Hunde. Busch. Zeitschrift.

^''^^ Marshall. British and Foreign Med. Chirurg. Review, April, 1853.
^ Danuin. Voyages, vol. iii. p- ISS-
* Bcrgonzi. Storia di una Malattia Epidcmica, p. 8.
» OEsterreich. Med. Jahrbuch, vol. xi. p. 349-

Period from A.D. 1815 to A.D. 1830. 131

regions as well as the plains ; attacking not only sheep and
cattle, but also pigs. Some animals suffered only from the
mouth affection ; others from the hoof disease ; but in most
cases they were affected with both, though in these instances
one part of the body was attacked before the other. When
the feet were involved, it was considered a critical issue to the
disease in the mouth. The fact deserves to be here noticed,
that at the period when this epizooty raged among cattle, the
young people suffered from an inflammatory i-heumatic fever,
which resolved itself into an aphthous or pustular eruption in
the mouth, as well as abscesses and sores on the inferior
extremities. The sheep suffered most in this year ; for, in
addition to the above-mentioned disease, they had variola,
scab, rot, and dysentery.

' The "lung disease" raged in twelve counties and forty-seven
districts, nearly the whole year through ; out of seven hundred
and sixty-four animals attacked, two hundred and thirty-nine
died. Splenic apoplexy appeared in ten counties and thirty-
seven districts in spring, and more frequently from July to
November— simultaneously with the mouth-and-foot disease.
In the county of Czaslauer, it was complicated with angina ;
out of two hundred and sixty-three animals attacked, only
eighty v/ere saved.' ^

Another observation tending to prove the transmissibility
of this affection to the human species is noted in Styria for
the year 1828.

similar observation I made in the autumn of the year
1828, in the medical district of Voitsberg in Steyermark,
where the foot-and-mouth disease raged epizootically among
the horned stock of Koflach. At the same period the
diseases existing among mankind were catarrh and rheu-
matism, with and without fever — as well as secondary or con-
secutive nervous fever following these attacks — intermittent
fevers, and among children measles, with inflammatory
catarrh and chest affections. Among cattle there reigned
sporadically, besides the foot-and-mouth disease, the lung
disease at Stallhofen, and in the mountainous districts here

^ Nadhcrny. CEsterreich. Med, Jahrbuch, vol. xi. p. 83.

9—2

132 History of Animal Plagues.

and there the splenic apoplexy. While I was in Koflach, I
had occasion to treat some grown-up women-servants, two of
whom had been attending to the diseased cows, and were
now suffering from a catarrhal inflammation of the throat : my
attention was drawn to an aphthous eruption on the soft and
hard palate, the result, as it appeared, of their attendance upon
these diseased animals.'^

The disease prevailed in Bavaria in the summer of 1827,
and it also appeared in Wurtemberg, which country it traversed
in the autumn from east to west. Kolb has traced its progress
very carefully. ' At first, as we know, the evil broke out at
Thalhemia, a village in the prefecture of Rottenburg, near
the eastern base of the Alps. In the month of August many
animals were already affected there. In other neighbouring
villages, also, the disease raged, we hear, at the same time ;
but it is uncertain whether it broke out earlier or later than at
Thalhemia. The number of animals affected there was very
great, but the intensity of the disease was but little remarkable.
Milk, when coagulated, in time yielded very often a large pro-
portion of whey. In many animals lameness succeeded the
aphthous eruption ; in some a small portion of the hoof sloughed
off through ulceration. In the prefecture of Reutlingen the
disease at length appeared about the middle of September,
and those places were especially affected in which large herds
of cattle were brought together, as in the towns of Reutlingen,
Pfulligen, Mezingen, and in the lesser villages situated in the
free Alps, such as Engstingen, Holzelfingen. There the
invasion of the epizooty was so sudden, that there were from
eighty to a hundred sick animals before a single day or night
had passed. In stables once infected it was very rare for any
animal to escape : all others, except calves under six months
old, no matter what their age or sex may have been, were
liable to an attack ; animals, whether grazing or kept up in
stalls, were alike obnoxious to it. Aphthae and lameness
attacked many beasts at the same time ; the disease in each
lasted from five or seven to fourteen days. The malady raged
in the city of Reutlingen for three months, during which
1 Levitzhy. GEsterreich. Med. Jahrbucli, vol. xiii. p. 611.

Period from A.D. 1815 y?.Z?. 1830. 133

period about a third part, two hundred and eighty-five,
of the cattle were affected. No measures were proposed
by the magistrates to stay the evil. In some Alpine
villages an indolent pneumonia {j)neitmonia bourn, lenta — nasse,
zveisse hmgenfdiile) of oxen was much aggravated by this
pest ; and in the city of Reutlingen, during the course of the
summer, the cats in whole streets died from a particular kind
of exanthemata, like the ' tinea sicca ' of mankind. At
this time also, in the prefecture of Reutlingen, in an Alpine
town called Miinsingen, about the middle of September, the
pest of aphtha seized some eighty or ninety cattle out of
five hundred. In the town of Hayngen, however, so few as
only four or six were affected ; a little later, in the village of
Oberstetten, out of five hundred, from forty to fifty were
seized by it. In these places the more aged ones were
affected, and especially cows. Aphthae became apparent
some time after the lameness began. At first those stables
remained unaffected the cows of which went to pasture.
The milk of the diseased animals was drunk by infants and
produced an acid vomiting and diarrhoea. In a village called
Weiller, distant from here about six geographical miles, and
which was ceded to the prefecture of Rottenburg, the disease
prevailed evidently about the same time as in the Alps ;
nevertheless, only a few cattle were attacked, but these very
severely ; so much so, indeed, that in a certain cow there
were deep ulcers in the tongue, not unhke carcinomatous
sores. In the same month in the village of Hirrlingen, of
the same prefecture, symptoms of the malady showed them-
selves. In the prefecture of Tubingen, it at first began in the
village of Sickenhausen about the 15th of September, and
out of one hundred and sixty cattle it attacked about ninety.
At the beginning of the disease there was some suspicion
among the peasants that it was contagious, but this was
afterwards abandoned when they saw very many animals
which stood among the sick remain free from it. Beasts kept
in stalls were no less affected than those wandering at large ;
the evil prevailed for seven weeks. In the village of Nahren,
it broke out about the 20th of September ; the aphthae pre-

134

History of Animal Plagues.

ceded the lameness, and pustules appeared here and there on the
udder. Among four hundred head onlyabout a fourth remained
unaftected ; it prevailed for five weeks. At the same time the
disease invaded Mossingam, belonging to the prefecture of
Rottenburg, but it was accompanied by different phenomena
— the aphthae for the most part preceding the other symptoms,
but sometimes they were not at all apparent, so that lameness
alone was present, though this again did not in many
instances follow the eruption ; pustules on the udders were
very frequent. Out of one thousand two hundred cattle
more than six hundred were affected. Amongst the sheep
also, during the month of July, lameness was prevalent at
Mossingen. At Ofterdinga, a place included in the prefecture
of Rottenburg, a little before this time we heard that the
disease was increasing. At Lustnavia, near Tubingen, this
pest first appeared in the cow-shed of the chief magistrate,
and attacked the whole nine cattle which stood therein.
Lameness appearing, the animals began to give less milk, so
that a cow recently yielding her full quantity, now gave less
than two pounds a day. Not only was this milk easily
coagulated when drawn, but it was often obtained in a
coagulated state from the very teats. Some animals stood in
stables in the midst of those severely affected, and yet they re-
mained unscathed ; pustules often formed on the udders. Out
of six hundred beasts four hundred were seized with thedisorder.
On the 27th of September, a veterinary surgeon of Tubingen,
named Belthlen, instituted an inquiry in the village of Rom-
melsbach, and he found eight cattle suffering from aphthae
with lameness ; on the same day there was an invasion of
the malady announced by the chief magistrate at the village
of Kirchentellinsfurth. The epizooty ended in five weeks, and
it attacked about the third part— two hundred and fifty— of the
cattle therein. The disease broke out in Dusslinga about the
middle of September, and increased in intensity until about
the middle of December, when out of one thousand one
hundred cattle it seized two hundred in a benignant form. At
Degerschlachti, from the 28th of September to the 6th of
December, eighty-seven animals were infected out of one

Period from A.D. 1815 to A.D. 1830. 135

hundred and forty-nine, and here the disease was thought to
be contagious. What gave them reason to think it was so,
arose from the fact that the animals at pasture v/ere first
attacked when grazing with those from KirchentelHnsfurth,
and that these latter were then affected. At Waldorf, in the
middle of October, only nineteen beasts were affected, and
these did not suffer for more than ten or twelve days. In the
neighbouring village of Gnibel, about this time, six or eight
cattle were contaminated. At Pfrondorfi, from the middle of
October up to the 24th of November, forty or fifty out of four
hundred were affected. In the city of Tubingen, the disease
reigned from the middle of October, and about three hundred out
of eight hundred and sixy-five were ill. At Altenburg, from the
beginning of November, increasing up to the beginning of
December, from twelve to fifteen cattle were sick out of one
hundred and twenty. Many animals near the sick remained
healthy ; though the contagious saliva was flowing from the
mouths of the former, yet these were unaffected. In the
village of Ofterdingen, the malady was wonderfully mild ;
about the beginning of November each animal suffered only
three or four days, and out of two hundred, twenty or thirty
were affected. From the city of Rottenburg, Veterinary
Surgeon Kienzle informs us that the disease disappeared in
the month of December.'^

In the summer of 1828 it prevailed in Wertemburg.2 In
the Duchy of Nassau it manifested itself in the districts of
Weilbourg, Herborn, Reichelsheim, and Weisbaden.^ At
Geneva it was observed sometime in the course of the year
1828.* Wirth, I find, states that it was glossanthi-ax that pre-
vailed in Switzerland.

In the North of Germany it appears to have been most
frequent in 1828, and in Altenburg to have shown itself in the
autumn of this year.''

Ovine small-pox was very destructive in Saxony.^

J Kolt. Aphtharum Pecorinarum Historia succincta, etc. Tubingen, 1828.
2 Sammlung v. Verordn. p. 73. Franque. Op. cit. p. 201.

* Recueil. de Med. Veter. vol. xv. p. 653.

^ Pohls. Beitrage z. d. Landwehr. vol. v. pp. 31S, 339.

* Heiisinger. Op. cit. p. 330.

History of Animal Plagues.

The contagious pleuro-pneumonia of cattle again appeared
in Paris and its neighbourhood. Delafond, in a report on this
malady some years after this period, observes : ' It is well
known that this disease has been domiciled for a long time in
the cow-sheds of Paris. Since 1827, pleuro-pneumonia has
prevailed continuously in the vicinity of Paris, and for the last
ten years has inflicted much damage on the grazing herds.
Many cattle-owners have had the misfortune to lose three-
fourths of their stock when this scourge appeared.'^

During the ten years subsequent to 1827, the disease had
extended to and fixed itself in the districts of Merv, Noailles,
Beauvais, Abbeville, Arras, Amiens, and Lille. From the'
year 183 1 the malady was particularly well known in France.

In this year the Cattle Plague appeared in Southern Russia,
during the war between Russia and Turkey, and prevailed
during 1828, 1829, 1830. In October, 1827, it was carried
into Courland, where it caused grievous loss.^ In November
it was also imported into Silesia from Podolia, and extended
into Galicia, Cracovia, and the adjoining regions, where the
damage inflicted was very considerable.^ In 1828 it showed
itself in Moravia and Bohemia, and had scarcely been
promptly extinguished there, when it was again introduced in
September, 1829.* Consul-General Green, in a report to the
British Government in 1865, writes : 'Persons with whom I
have conversed on the subject state that the rinderpest or
Cattle Disease was first introduced into the Danubian Princi-
palities in 1828 by the Russian army, which was accompanied
by thousands of carts drawn by oxen.' Ubicini, in his ' History
of the Principalities,' thus alludes to the subject : ' Puis vint le
terrible hiver de 1829, pendant lequel le manque de fourrages,
joint a une Epizootic, enleva plus de la moitie du betail ; alors
en se servit des paysans, comme des betes de somme, pour le
service de I'armee.'

'^Delafond. Traite sur la Maladie de Poitrine du Gros Betail. Paris, 1844.
Ftichs. Frage iiber die Contagiositat der Lungenseuche, p. 107.

^Bidder. Henke, Zeitschrift fiir Staatsarmeik. vol. xii. p. 232.

^ Lorinscr. Untersuchungen liber die Rinderpest. Berlin, 1831, p. 253.
Jessen. Die Rinderpest mit Besonderer Beziehung auf Russland dargestellt.
Berlin, 1834.

*Prinz. Rinderpest in Boheni. Busch. Zeitschrift, vol. iii. p. 15.

Period from A.D. 1815 to A.D. 1830, 137

The origin, spread, and disasters accompanying this out-
break of the fearful malady, are sufficiently interesting to
merit notice. The wars in Europe and Asiatic Turkey were
carried on with such vigour, that the call on the people in
Western Russia and the Danubian Principalities for labour
and provisions exhausted all internal resources, and was a
fruitful source of disease both in man and beast. The repeated
invasions of Turkey led to extensive demands for cattle in the
Principalities. The Russians had, however, passed the Pruth ;
General Geizmar reached Aluta, and his Cossacks had pene-
trated Little Wallachia without opposition. As a consequence,
the Sultan obtained only 500 head of cattle and 3,000 sheep
from Wallachia, whereas Moldavia yielded nothing. 'The
Russian declaration of war, however, was accompanied by a
demand for 250,000 loads of corn, 400,000 tons of hay, 50,000
barrels of brandy, and 23,000 oxen, in addition to the forced
labour of 16,000 peasants, who were to be employed in making
hay on the banks of the Danube. The loss occasioned by the
payment for these requisitions in bills, instead of cash, was not
the only disadvantage to which the unfortunate people were
immediately exposed ; for, as the local supplies were soon
exhausted by such an army, it became necessary to transport
provisions from Bessarabia by means of forced labour. The
peasants also soon exhausted their own supplies, and were
reduced to such extreme want in consequence that they died
in great numbers on the road ; as did also their cattle, in con-
sequence of a murrain. The serious extent of this disease
covered the road with carcases, which by their putrefaction,
coupled with the want of cleanliness in the Russian soldier
gave rise to typhus fever in its very worst form — that of the
Plague. This fearful scourge first appeared at Bucharest ;
and it continued to afflict the Russian army, as well as the
inhabitants, during the whole of this and the succeeding
campaign.'! Bessarabia, Wallachia, and Moldavia were not
the only provinces over which the Cattle Plague extended
and produced such terrible disasters, but it again found its
way into Podolia and Volhynia, and thence to Prussia, Saxony,
Hungary, and Austria.

^ Colonel Chesney. The Russo-Turkish Campaigns. London, 1854, p. 72.

138 History of Animal Plagues.

The losses continued great for some time, notwithstanding
all efforts to check the disease; and in 1830 it appeared in
several parts of the Austrian territory, especially in Illyria.
'For three years, from 1828 to 1830, Southern Russia suf-
fered much from rinderpest, and it continued to break out
here and there in the Steppes and adjoining districts ; but so
long as the indigenous cattle only were affected, deaths were
comparatively rare ; so soon, however, as the herds of Austrian
cattle, belonging to German colonists, were attacked, not even
ten per cent, survived. At all times the German colonists
suffer from this scourge ; their cattle are infected by the herds
employed to carry salt from the Crimea and the Steppes of
saline base between the Caspian and the Baltic, which are
supposed to have once formed a bottom for the waters when
these two seas were united. The German colonies which thus
suffer are in Moloshna and in the vicinity of Mariopol. It is
said that in these colonies the neat cottages and the well-built
barns and outhouses, surrounded by trees and gardens and
by highly cultivated fields, bear the signs of wealth and com-
fort, and of the care bestowed on them by an industrious
population. The German colonies form a striking contrast to
the dreary country in which they are situated, and to the
miserable Russian villages, and the still more wretched Tartar
douls around them. Their situation is always well chosen on
some sloping ground, on the border of one of the few rivulets
that water the country.^ ' My object in referring to these
features of the German colonies is to point out the interesting
fact that, although surrounded by Steppe-land, the colonists
and their cattle exist under very different conditions to those
common to the habitations and the herds of the Cossacks, the
Tartars, and the Calmucks ; and although the cattle of the
Steppes, accustomed to hard living, withstand the Steppe
murrain, it is no special breed that presents this immunity
from disease, but animals in general reared in the most primi-
tive manner, and somehow rendered constitutionally able to
ward off all injurious influences.'2

I H. D. Seymour, M.P. Russia on the Black Sea and Sea of Azoff. London,
1855-

/. Gam see. The Cattle Plague. London, 1866.

Period from A.D. 1815 to A.D. 1830. 139

' In 1829 an immense number of bullocks was accumulated
beyond the Pruth, for the use of the Russian army against
Turkey. Being greatly distressed for want of food, and ex-
hausted by fatigue and exposure, the Cattle Plague broke out
in August, and continued till nearly the approach of the
following summer. The mortality was fearful. In the Princi-
palities, during the autumn alone, more than 200,000 head of
cattle perished. The entire stocks in Bessarabia were de-
stroyed ; and the provinces northwards became infected, and
suffered enormous losses.'-^

A.D. 1828. An epidemic fever was very fatal at Gibraltar.
By some it was supposed to have been imported, and by
others to have arisen from want of sanitary attention. Swarms
of flies were generated, and their incredible myriads covered
the walls of houses like black curtains ; and while the pesti-
lence raged, parrots, canaries, and other small birds in cages,
and even, poultry and domestic animals, perished in great
numbers. Those people who recovered were found to be
swarming with vermin.^

In the spring, epizootic catarrhal fever, or ' influenza,' was
prevalent among horses in England. In the London districts,
where it was very common and fatal, it bore a somewhat
different character to what was observed of it in the provinces,
and the curative treatment was consequently modified. Mr.
Brown, who saw much of the disease at Melton Mowbray,
says that 'the pulse was generally small and frequent; a
difficult and sonorous breathing; an offensive smell ; a trouble-
some and almost incessant cough ; great difficulty in swallow-
ing; the Schneiderian membrane highly injected, with an
inordinate discharge of viscid acrimonious mucus ; great
enlargement of the submaxillary and parotid glands, with
frequent ulceration ; considerable debility ; loss of appetite ;
tremors ; great irritability, with a disinclination to move. In
some cases the faeces were buttony, voided in small quantities,
and covered with mucus ; in others there was diarrhoea, with
a peculiar offensive smell. In a few instances the pulse was

1 Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, October, 1845.
A. Neale. Op. cit. pp. 175, 244.

140

History of Animal Plagues.

slow and small, the eyes overflowing with tears ; the Schnei-
derian membrane inflamed, yet assuming a yellow tint, and
discharging an immense quantity of viscid mucus ; breathing
less difficult and sonorous ; very lethargic and partial loss of
voluntary motion.' The disease, under depletive treatment,
was very fatal ; but when the sick animals were nursed and
subjected to the opposite regime, it appears to have been
rarely so. On examination after death, ' the Schneiderian
membrane was found to be in the highest state of mortifica-
tion, with several ulcers on its surface ; a large abscess in the
pharynx, full of the most offensive matter. The membrane
lining the pharynx, larynx, trachea, bronchise, and air-cells
had the same morbid appearance. The substance of the
lungs was not in that high state of mortification which is often
met with after active inflammation, but contained several
abscesses. The pleurae were much inflamed, and the cavity
of the chest filled with a mixture of serum and pus having a
very putrid odour. It attacked all ages, whether in the stable
or at grass, in elevated or low situations, or drinking from
stagnant pools or fresh water.^

The editor of the fifth edition of * Osmer's Treatise on
Horses' (Mr. Hinds) remarks: 'In the spring of 1828, the
catarrhal epidemic prevailed generally, with symptoms nearly
resembling the third and fourth classes of Osmer ; but in
London, the attacks partook of the whole of those described
in his text.2

In the Austrian States, the influenza which we have already
noticed as prevailing on the Continent until 1828, yet appeared
here and there. Even so late as 1829, it broke out in the
military stud at Mezohegyes.^

In Argyleshire, Scotland, anthrax fever killed a great many
sheep, and prevailed for a long time during this year.*

The contagious pleuro-pneumonia of cattle appears to have
been introduced into Belgium about this time. 'Since 1828,
there has existed in Belgium an epizootic disease that came
to us from the south of Europe, where it had existed for a

1 Brow7i. The Veterinarian, vol. i. p. 286. • Hinds. Op. cit. p. 104.

» Wirth. Op. cit. p. 157. *The Farmer's Magazine, 1828.

Period from A.D. 1815 to A.D. 1830. 141

very long time. Different names have been given to it ; but
it is now well known to all who attend to such matters by the
name of "exudative pleuro-pneumonia" — a correct designa-
tion applied to it by a learned Belgian professor, M. Gluge.' ^
But in a communication from the late Inspector of Belgian
Cavalry, Verheyen, we find that this insidious plague was
imported into Belgium so early as 1827, and proved a dread-
ful infliction on the Belgian farmers, travelling from place to
place, until the whole of Flanders was invaded by it.^ It has
been remarked that no country ever suffered so much from
this malady as Holland. It received the infection in 1827 —
before the separation between it and Belgium — in the, at that
period, southern provinces of the kingdom, particularly in
Brussels, Mechlin, Louvain, and Diest. At a later date it
showed itself in Hainault and West Flanders ; and in the
year 1833 it appeared in all its malignity, in what we now call
Holland. In that year it broke out on a farm in Guelder-
land, and from this centre it spread over the whole country.

A.D. 1829. A blight or disease made its appearance in the
potato and other crops in Germany, Ireland, and America.^
In the preceding and following years, the oak caterpillars
{bonibyx processiond) caused great damage in Westphalia,* and
in Upper Hesse.

In Scotland great floods occurred, and the east coast was
greatly devasted. In Morayshire, the shore was strewn with
the carcases of domestic animals, and with millions of dead
hares and rabbits, particularly at the mouth of the river
Spey.''

The autumn of 1829 was comparatively mild, but towards
the winter it became exceedingly wet, with a cold east wind
blowing, and this unfavourable weather continued for a long
time. An apparent complication of various diseases, which
collectively were termed ' rot ' {cachexia aquosd)^ attacked the

^ Willents. Mem. sur le Epizootic de Peripneumonie du Betail.
^Fuchs. Op. cit. p. 124. Wirth. Op. cit. p. 300.

^Basconu. Op. cit. p. 158. * Nicolai. Die Processions raupe, Berlin, 1833.

''Sir T. D. Lauder. The Floods in Morayshire, 1S29. P'or very interesting
remarks on the destnictiveness of floods and accompanying phenomena, see
Humboldt. Personal Narrative. Also Bates. The Naturalist on the Amazons,

142

History of Animal Plagues.

ovine and bovine species over the whole of Europe, and
caused tremendous loss, more especially in Eg>'-pt, Northern
France, Eastern Germany, Holland, and England,

In Egypt, though its ravages are very great every year
after the subsidence of the Nile, it seems to have been ex-
traordinarily wide-spread and fatal. ' It appears every year
in Egypt after the fall of the Nile, and it follows and keeps
pace with the subsidence of the waters. In the higher
districts of Upper Egypt, it commences about the end of
July ; nearer Cairo, in August ; in the environs of the capital,
in October and November ; and during the months of Decem-
ber, January, and February, in the Delta. It is most
obstinate, and continues longest in the neighbourhood of the
confluence of the waters ; in lower Egypt it lasts about one
hundred and twenty or one hundred and thirty days, and it
disappears soonest and is least fatal when the rise of the
Nile has not been considerable. Desolation and death
accompany it wherever it passes. The Arabs say this pest
annually destroys sixteen thousand sheep in Egypt. Its
victims usually perish on the twenty-fifth, thirty-fifth, or
fortieth day after the apparent attack ..... If an Arab
shepherd is asked how he distinguishes this disease from all
others, he replies that the sheep have under the jaw a bag
full of water ; that they walk with difficulty ; have diarrhoea ;
their wool falls off ; they are dull, disinclined to move, and
are almost constantly lying down ; sometimes a foetid matter
of a variable colour— yellow, grey, or green— runs from the
nostrils. The head and neck and belly and limbs swell ; the
eyes are red ; the animals become emaciated ; they eat and
drink little when the disease is in an advanced state, but
rumination continues for a considerable period .... It is
observed in Egypt in the sheep,, rabbit, hare ; in poultry, and
sometimes in the horse, mule, ox, dog, and even the silk-
worm. It is always dangerous, and is generally enzootic or
epizootic ... In the Delta the rot {pourriture) lasts longest.
This part of Egypt lies very low ; it is cut in every direction
by innumerable canals ; the waters are out a longer time, and
there is more marshy ground. The very habitations of the

Period from A.D.- iSis io A.D. 1830. 143

Arabs are in the water ; rushes are the only food for their
flocks during three or four months ; the sheep pasture in the
midst of the mud, or on the borders of the marshes and
canals ; the malady follows their every step, and thousands of
them perish ... In 1829, one of us, by order of the Viceroy,
visited many of the provinces of the Delta, to oppose, if
possible, some barrier to the scourge which decimated the
flocks— so indispensable to the tyrant as well as the slave.
The inhabitants laughed at the advice which we gave them
as to the management of their sheep. " Before we concern
ourselves," said they, " with the preservation of the health of
the oxen and sheep, we must demand the means of our own
existence, which are now refused to us." Dr. Pariset and
one of us were resting in the house of the chief of one of
the villages, and were talking with him about this pest, the
presumed cause of it, and the possibility of effecting its utter
disappearance from Egypt. Our host laughed, and said,
"This pest has always raged in our villages, and it woidd not
be zvise to get rid of it ; let our families be comfortably lodged,
and let . them have wholesome and proper food, and not
only this pest, but many others will disappear from our
country."

In the department of the Meuse, in France, and in other
districts in this portion of that country, its dreadful destruc-
tiveness was commented upon by many observers. One of
these says : ' Out of eighty-five thousand cattle estimated as
present in the arrondissement of Montmedy (Meuse) in 1830,
the cachexie has killed five thousand. The loss has been more
considerable in the arrondissement of Verdun, where, out of
twenty thousand six hundred and eighty-two head, two
thousand two hundred and one succumbed. The mortality
has been most considerable among young animals, and
towards the decline of the malady, among cows and oxen.
It nearly always commenced with the calves ; then it at-
tacked the weakest cows, and especially if they were in calf;
and lastly, the oxen. It made the greatest havoc in these
departments in December, 1829, and January, February,

' Ilamont and Fischer. Journal de Med. Vetur.

144

History of Animal Plagues.

March and April, 1830. The mortality commenced about
the 15th of December, and ceased about the 20th of April ;
from the 15th of January to the 15th of March it destroyed
the greatest number of animals.' ^

For the Duchy of Nassau there is a similar account. ' In
the year 1829, the first district of the land (Westerwald) was
visited by this disease to such a degree, that from the autumn
till the spring of 1830, in the two parishes of Marienberg and
Rennerod alone, more than eleven hundred head of cattle,
principally young stock, died. The summer of 1828 was
notoriously unfavourable, and it is certain that it predis-
posed to the malady, which the humidity of 1829 at last
developed. In the low-lying parishes of Westerwald, in the
neighbourhood of the Lahn and the Taunus, only animals
here and there were attacked. Here, on the contrary, it had
already appeared in the autumn of 1828, and in many places,
especially during 1829 and 1830, it killed great numbers.'^
In the Lower Rhine provinces and in Holland its ravages
were very severe, and are described as follows : ' The month
of May in 1829 was remarkably cold and dry, and we could
not congratulate ourselves upon a single growing day for the
crops. In June, the cold was varied with occasional hot
gleams of sunshine, which was yet unfavourable for all
vegetation, and hence it was that grass was extremely scarce.
On the 20th of the same month it rained, and continued
doing so for two months ; so that until the end of August the
sky was overcast. From these circumstances the ground was
thoroughly saturated with water, and the low-lying pastures
were flooded. The hay harvest was, therefore, in a great
measure spoiled, and what remained in the meadows was
destroyed ; so that the fattening stock lost their condition,
and the milch-cows became dry and could scarcely exist.
The autumn still brought a continuous rain, and the cattle
were still forced to go about cold and wet, without being able
to lie down. The limbs, to the depth they were immersed in
the waters, lost their hair ; the bones were also attacked, and,

1 Hurtrd cPArboval. Diet, de Med. etc. Veter. vol. i. p. 265.
^Fraiique. Seuchen der liausthiere.

Period from A.D. 1815 lo A.D. 1830. 145

in short, the cattle were in a most miserable condition. In
this state they were taken to their sheds, and there being but
little reserve forage for them, it was not long before disease
broke out in a severe form, and caused a frightful devastation.
It cannot be denied that the farmers who lived in the low-
lands of the Rhine, and without the dam, had saved an
excellent hay harvest, inasmuch as they kept their cattle
healthy and in good condition, owing, undoubtedly, to the
fact, that notwithstanding all the storms of rain, the Rhine
fortunately did not overflow its banks ; and thus consider-
able tracts of pasture on both sides of the river were free
from inundations From this combination of circum-
stances it is that in this region but little disease occurred.
But when we consider that in the township of Haldern and
Ringenberg twelve hundred head of cattle alone died, we may
well call this disease a true plague. In Holland, the position
of the inhabitants of the low country was still more worthy
of commiseration ; the plague was there even far more
virulent than in this neighbourhood ; for I know, on good
authority, that in one village — Vinkeveen — over fifteen
hundred head of stock died. Still greater was the number of
cattle lost in the villages of Benschop and Polsbroeck, and
as considerable was it in the other low-lying places. These
unfortunate people's chief means of obtaining a livelihood
being dependent on their cattle, they were obliged to wit-
ness their destruction without any hope of saving them, for
the beautiful meadows lay there like a great inland sea.
Several thousand acres of land and pasture lay deeper under
water than the shoal banks of the sea, and were surrounded
by banks of turf The rain-water, when it did not increase
too fast, was pumped away by windmills. As, however, the
wind failed, this remedy also failed ; and here I must remark
that it appeared strange to me at first, that the cows on the
brackish pasture near the shore remained nearly all healthy.
It is, however, known that most of these pastures are inter-
sected by canals which contain salt water ; if, then, the
animals had a proper amount of nourishment in their stables,
the lost strength would soon be regained, and they would not

10

146

History of Animal Plagties.

die in such large numbers, as, on the contrary, was the con-
sequence of the damaging of the herbage in this neighbour-
hood and the loss of strength and condition. The year 1830
brought an extraordinary fine spring, and the great desire of
the farmers to drive their cattle to pasture was much favoured
thereb}/. However, the new grass acting as an irritant and a
purgative, caused profuse diarrhoea, from' which the cattle
suffered much, and caused the prostration of many, even in
the fine healthy month of May. It was also necessary to
keep the cattle up at night, to give them dry fodder and the
medicines needful to enable them to regain their strength.
I must now be allowed to point out, shortly, that this bad
weather exercised an evil influence not only upon cattle, but
also upon horses and sheep. As an instance of this, in the
above-named townships at least twenty larger or smaller
flocks of sheep became a prey to the malady.'^

In England, where the malady did not appear until 1830,
and lasted till 1831, it was regarded as a national calamity,
as it was estimated that not less than two million sheep
perished.^ ' Perhaps the greatest outbreak that ever occurred
in England, or at any rate the one respecting which we have
the most authentic information, is that which took place in
1830, in which it was supposed that we lost not fewer than
two millions of sheep ; and the result was that an inquiry
then going on in the House of Commons with regard to the
depressing causes of agriculture, branched out into an inves-
tigation of those losses. I believe the Government fully
ascertained that in the following year the weekly supply of
sheep to our metropolitan markets was diminished by five
thousand — a circumstance that will help to show us to what
an extent we have suffered in this country when these great
outbreaks have taken place.'^ Even two years afterwards,
there were twenty thousand less sheep than the ordinary
average at Weyhill Fair.^

1 Achthoven. Uber die Rindviehkranlcheit des Jahres 1830 am Niederrhein.
Emmerich, 1832. See also Montcton. Uber die zwei nichtigsten Lammerkrank-
heiten. Potsdam, 1833. 2 Library of Useful Ivnowledge.

V- S'i^imonds. The Veterinarian, vol. xxxiv. p. 276.

* An,,. Cage. Clater's Cattle Doctor, p. 519.

Period from A.D. to A.D. 1830. 147

During a violent epidemy at the Brazils, consequent on a
long drought, which transformed the bay of Rio de Janeiro
and the low-lying swamps into immense marshes, great
numbers of animals died. ' On avait observe que les animaux
succombaient en nombre dans les campagnes, et que presque
tous restaient, sans etre ensevelis, au milieu des marais, ou
ils etaient venus puiser une eau sale, rare et presque tarie.'^

From 1828 to 1830, rabies canina was very frequent in
Saxony.

In 1829, M. Dupuy observed an epizooty among ducks near
Toulouse, France. The cause could not be ascertained.
Disease of the intestines was observed on examination after
death. ' There were noticed layers and zones of a red colour,
similar to that of bricks, to the extent of three inches. These
zones were four in number ; the first was situated about a foot
from the gizzard. The small intestines in this part showed
an alteration which bore a close resemblance to the principal
symptom observed in the skin disease termed " shingles "
(zona). The other three zones offered the same characters,
being from one to two inches in wadth, projected in the
same manner ; they were extended over the remaining portion
of intestine. In the spaces between these zones, the mucous
membrane formed r'idges which were disposed in circular rings
of a red colour ; these ridges or duplicatures were narrow
and thin, and the grooves or spaces between were close
together, resembling what is noticed on the bark of certain
umbelHferous plants.' 2

111 Nassau, parturition was difficult, and oftentimes fatal in
cows. 'In the latter part of the autumn of 1829, and more
particularly in the commencement of 1830, abortions and
cases of difficult parturition were observed in many places,
and they were far more frequent than in former years. The
cause, in all probability, resided not only in the debilitating
influence of the damp cold weather of 1829, but also in the
faulty state of the forage, which was nearly all spoiled in
making. The result of these unfavourable conditions was

^ Sigaud. Les Maladies de Brazil, p. 171,
Dupuy. Journal Pratique des Sciences Zooatriques, 1836.

10 — 2

148

History of Animal Plagtces.

the disturbance and relaxation of the reproductive energies ;
and in those animals which were not really diseased, there
was, nevertheless, a languor and debility of the muscular system,
and even the bones themselves appeared to be friable and
easily broken ; such, indeed, was proved to be the case in
several animals which were examined. The extreme atony
of the muscular system was more particularly noticed in cows
which were near their time for calving, though they might
otherwise be healthy ; many towards the last weeks were
unable to stand, and had to be assisted to rise. They lay
helpless for three or four weeks, until at last they calved and
were relieved. Others died before calving ; some while
calving, or soon after that event. The calves were always
full grown, healthy, and lively — a striking proof of how
much the natural energy is directed towards the maintenance
of the young, even at the expense of the mother. In several
cows which died during calving, or were killed in consequence
of their inability to calve, the bones of the pelvis were found
fractured. How these fractures occurred could not be
ascertained, but they were probably due to the cattle falling
down when, in consequence of their great weakness, they
could no longer stand.' ^

These peculiar fractures were, I think, in all likelihood
owing to the presence of that diseased brittle condition of
the bones designated ' cachexia ossifraga,' which appears to
have been epizodtic at this time ; as Wirth^ informs us it
made its appearance in the spring of the year in the east of
Switzerland, after a cold winter.

In Germany, this fragility of the bones of cattle, and par-
ticularly of breeding or dairy cattle, would appear to be
somewhat common, if we may judge by its being so frequently
mentioned in the veterinary records of that country, where it
is popularly known as the ' Knochenbrechigkeit.' In France
it would seem to be rare, for it is scarcely alluded to. Its
frequency in Alsace— the border-land between France and
Germany— is, however, attested by M. Zundel,3 who desig-

1 Frauque. Busch. Zeitschrift, vol. ii. p. loi. - Wirth. Op. cit. p. 447-
"^Zundel. Recueil de M^d. Veter., fifth series, vol. vii. p. 561.

Period from A.D. 1815 to A.D. 1830. 149

nates the disease ' Osteoclastic' It is a chronic disease, some-
what cachectic in its nature, unaccompanied by fever, and
particularly characterized by incomplete nutrition of the
osseous system ; the bones becoming lighter, less compact,
and very brittle; at the same time there is most frequently
observed general emaciation, or the morbid condition known
as ' pica.' In Alsace it is only observed in a special region—
the Rhenish portion of the plain, or basse plaine, as it is
termed. It prevails most extensively in years remarkable for
drought, when the vegetation is largely deprived of its
mineral constituents, particularly those that are most in-
soluble— such as the phosphate of lime— which are then not
dissolved in sufficient quantity for the normal nutrition of
plants.

The malady attacks bovine animals, goats, pigs, and even
birds, but it has not yet been observed in sheep.

The Cattle Plague appeared in Bessarabia, Moldavia, and
Hungary.

T50

CHAPTER HI.

PERIOD FROM A.D. 1830 TO 1835.

A.D. 1830. Malignant cholera showed itself on the frontiers of
Europe, towards the borders of the Black Sea, and spreading,
passed into the centre of European Russia ; while from the
Georgian frontier of Persia it extended into the very middle
of the Russian Empire, and travelling westward, swept away
hundreds of thousands of people in its course.^

^ The entrance of the epidemy into Orenburg took place on the 26th of August,
1829, and its approach to Moscow seems to have been heralded by some strange
phenomena, described as follows : 'During the summer of 1830, the Tartars, who
frequent Moscow for purposes of traffic, predicted the approach of a pestiferous
malady, which, however, the inhabitants, relying upon the local advantages of
their city, would not credit. Suddenly, /loiuever, the atmosphere ivas filled with
deme masses of small green files, which in Asia are the forerunners of pestilence,
and are called " plague files" The streets swarmed with these insects, and as soon
as the inhabitants quitted their houses they were covered from head to foot. For
a time, however, no attention was paid to this phenomenon, nor were any pre-
ventive measures against the cholera even thought of until intelligence arrived
that this formidable disease had appeared in Nischni-Novgorod.' — The English-
man's Magazine, No. 2.

Dr. Reimona, of St. Petersburg, in a letter to Dr. Marc, communicated to the
Academy of Medicine at Paris, states, ' that the cholera was brought to Astracan
by ships, and spread itself over Russia by the emigration of the inhabitants,
principally those of the lower orders. This is the sole cause of its propagation in
Russia ; it has never shown itself in any place, except where it has been brought
by travellers who came from infected places. We have not a single instance of a
town or village which without communication with houses or persons affected
has contracted the disorder. Several places surrounded by tlie disease have pre-
served themselves from it by ji rigid insulation. It is a contagion std geturis,
which we must not assimilate with the plague, and which will be more or less
rapid, more or less extensive, according to the more or less wholesome nature of
localities ; it has been more dangerous to the Jews, who live shut up in small
rooms and in extreme filth.' — A. A'eale. Op. cit. p. 198.

Period from A.D. 1830 to A.D. 1835. 151

In the winter and spring multitudes of young cattle died in
Britain from filaria in the bronchiae. ',

Epizootic affections, either preceding or accompanying the
cholera in man, were reported by a large number of observers,
and from many of the accounts these diseases appear to have
borne some resemblance to that dreadful epidemy. Professor
Dick, of Edinburgh, in an admirable essay on ' Cholera in the
Domesticated Animals.'^ writes : ' Early in 1830, an epizootic
disease commenced, by which, for some weeks, several horses
in Edinburgh and its neighbourhood were affected ; but until
the beginning of June it had not become very serious. During
the latter part of that month, and throughout the two follow-
ing ones, however, it became more formidable, and a great
number of horses were seized with this affection. The disease
appeared to consist in an inflammation of the mucous mem-
brane of the organs of respiration ; the pulse rose to a range
of from sixty to ninety, according to the severity of the
attack ; there was slight soreness of the throat, weak cough,
breathing quickened ; the animal heavy, with great weakness,
and that rapidly ensuing ; bowels easily acted tipon ; surface of
the body natural in temperature, but with a more than
ordinary tendency to become cold in the extremities. The
disease was, however, by no means fatal, so that in one
establishment, out of thirty-two horses seized with this disease
only four died ; and other proprietors were at that time
equally fortunate. ... By a reference to my case-book, I
find that it commenced again about the end of October, and
increased in severity throughout the months of December,
January, and February, during which time upwards of one
hundred and fifty cases occurred in my practice, of which
about thirty died, giving striking proof of the severity of this

serious epizootic'

In the department of the Somme, France, a mysterious
disease showed itself among horses, which is thus noticed m
the Proceedings of the Alfort Veterinary College : ' A disease,
bearing the character of an enzootic, appeared, towards the
middle of last year, among the horses of one of the largest

' The Veterinarian, vol. vi. p. 207.

152 // istory of A nimal Flag 2ies.

proprietors of the department of the Somme. M. Renault
was immediately sent for to examine and treat it. At the
time of his arrival, the disease had prevailed for nearly three
months; and out of one hundred and thirty horses which were
in the stable at the time of its development, forty-nine were
dead, and fifteen ill from it. They knew not what to think of
this affection, in which no organ seemed to suffer or be in the
least altered, either before or after death. Many of the patients
ate heartily up to the last moment. The various methods of
treatment adopted all failed. There was nothing to direct
their researches, and their efforts to prevent it were not more
happy. Among the persons who were consulted, some
attributed it to the unhealthiness of the stables ; others to the
bad quality of the water ; some believed it to be contagious ;
the people of the establishment believed all sorts of things ;
the owner knew not what to think in the midst of all these
contrarieties, and was in absolute despair. M. Renault set to
work immediately to study the character and nature of this
fatal malady. Of the fifteen horses which were diseased at
the time of his arrival, eight, of whose recovery there was no
hope, were destroyed, and the examination of them served to
throw light on his researches. In comparing the observations
which he made on the carcases of the dead with the symptoms
and character of disease observable in the living, he was
assured that the primitive alteration, the essential malady,
was in the blood, which, Avhether taken from the dead or the
living animal, covered his hands without reddening them, and
either did not coagulate, or formed a mass of a dirty grey
colour, and contained a very small proportion of fibrine, which
was easily proved by analysis. These . alterations were yet
more perceptible in the horses that had been diseased for some
time. There was so little cohesion between the organic
elements of the blood, that even during the life of the animal
the fibrinous elements separated from the liquid whenever it
was agitated, even in the slightest degree. Agreeably to this,
in many of the carcases that were opened immediately after
death there were found little parcels of pure fibrine floating
between the cords which retain the mitral valves, or resting

Period from A.D. iZ^o to A.D. 1835. 153

on the fleshy columns which traverse the left ventricle of the
heart. In one horse that died after being ill fifteen days,
M. Renault found an adhesion between the wall of the left
ventricle and one of the mitral valves ; the adhesion was
formed by a little fibrinous mass, deposited doubtless for some
days beneath this membranous fold. If we add to these
characters the paleness and flaccidity of all the organs which,
like the red muscles, are essentially fibrous, the absence of
all traces of either acute or chronic inflammation in any organ,
and the rapidity with which the carcases became putrefied, it
cannot be doubted that the disorder existed in the blood,
characterized by the small proportion of fibrine and colouring
matter in this fluid, as well as by the easy separation of its
elements.'

At Stuttgart, the Veterinary Professor Hering witnessed
an extraordinary and fatal epizooty among horses. ' The
following described disease, by its suddenly attacking horses
which a short time before were perfectly healthy, by its
extremely rapid course, and by its deadliness, has caused as
much alarm as the cholera did in the human subject on this
its first appearance. Several of the most prominent symptoms
add to the resemblance otherwise to be found between the
diseases ; so that the attention of medical men, as well as that
of the public, was awakened to its importance. Happily,
however, it disappeared as rapidly as it had appeared. That
in places visited by the Asiatic cholera, similar symptoms
showed themselves also among animals is amply proved, as
well by the reports in the public press, as in the works written
on that epidemy. Nevertheless, I have not observed an exact
description of the same disease among horses or other
animals suffering in a locality whert the human species were
not there affected. At that time, however, this epidemy had
got no further than Moscow, and had not yet overstepped the
borders of Russia, so that up to the present time Wurtemberg
is perfectly free from it ; and hence I cannot describe the
following epizooty as identical with it, but will simply draw
attention to the similarity between the two diseases. It was
in the second week in September, 1830, about the time at

154

History of Animal Plagues.

which the usual autumn manoeuvres commence, whereby the
horses of the Regal and Court Stables, as well as those of the
princes and general staff, were rather more than usual, though
not over, worked. Besides these, the disease attacked those
horses which had not been worked, and entirely avoided the
troop horses. The following must be considered as the first case.
Achwerdow, an Eastern stallion of the King's private stables,
was attacked with colic on the 7th of September ; it was treated
by the veterinary surgeon to the Royal Mews, and died the
same day. On the 8th of September the stallion Aleppo,
a mare, Zeida, and another horse, ridden by a lackey, were
all attacked in the same stable towards the evening. Two of
these had been out at the field-day in the forenoon, but had
returned without the slightest appearance of illness. In the
night the veterinary surgeon came to inform me of the fact,
and to seek my advice. According to his description I con-
sidered the horses lost, and they were so ; for none of them
lived till morning. On a post-mortem examination under-
taken by him, the intestinal canal appeared dark-coloured,
and contained a blood-coloured fluid ; the blood was tarry ;
the spleen was enlarged, etc. The 9th of November had
nothing unusual, but in the following night there sickened a
fifth case — a horse belonging to Senior-Lieutenant C, of the
Royal Guard, and which died in eight hours. The sixth case
was on the lOth of September, when the mare Calliope,
belonging to the King's private stable, showed symptoms of
illness : she was brought to the Veterinary School, where she
died in two hours ; she had been ridden the previous day.
The seventh case occurred on the following night : a
roan horse, belonging to the postmaster, Von H., and which
on its recent arrival at Stuttgart had been placed in the stable
of an inn not far from the Royal Stable where these cases of
disease had broken out. When first seized the malady was
considered an ordinary case of colic. Upon a post-mortem
inspection which I undertook on the next day, the same
appearances were present as in the previous cases. The
eighth case happened on the nth of the same month : at six
o'clock in the morning a white mare, belonging to the Grand

Period from A.D. 1830 to A.D. 1835. i55

Master of the horse, was attacked in the Royal Mews. At
seven o'clock the animal was brought into the school and
there treated. It improved rapidly, and was returned as con-
valescent on the thirteenth day. The ninth case showed
itself on the same morning, when the farm stallion Osman
sickened in the Royal Mews, and died there in twenty-four
hours. Cases ten, eleven, twelve, and thirteen happened on
the same day, when four horses belonging to Major Von M.,
adjutant to the King, were affected. After six hours' suffering a
twelve-years-old bay mare died ; a few hours later a white mare,
and another white mare at midnight. These animals stood
in a stable near to the King's private stables. Cases fourteen,
fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, and eighteen broke out in the same
building, which enclosed three roomy yards, which were the
stables of the Prince Frederick. Of these, five were attacked
on the same day, and were treated with cold applications as
if they had been aff'ected with splenic apoplexy. Early on
the morning of the 14th a bay mare died, and on the i6th
a bay gelding. Cases nineteen, twenty, twenty-one, twenty-
two, twenty-three, and twenty-four: of six horses which
Prince Frederick had taken with him to the manoeuvres on
the nth of September, not one escaped. Two of them died
at C, about eight leagues from here. The other four were
sent back, but a bay gelding died on the 15th before he
reached Stuttgart, and a black gelding died on the 22nd of
the month from the effects of the disease. Cases twenty-five
and twenty-six occurred on the 12th of September. In the
evening two Mecklenburg brown horses, belonging to the
Comptroller of the Household, Von. S., fell sick. They had
been standing in a stable adjoining the palace of Prince
Frederick ; on the following morning they were brought into
the Veterinary School. One of these magnificent animals, a
mare, died after a hard struggle in the night of the 13th and
14th, while the other, a gelding, though at the commencement
more seriously affected, was pronounced out of danger at
noon on the day following. Cases twenty-seven and twenty-
eight : in the same stables stood a pair of white horses, which
had been driven on the same day to C. On the way back

156 History of Animal Plagues.

they were both gravely attacked by diarrhoea, and were
immediately taken into the Veterinary School on their arrival.
One, a seventeen-year-old gelding, died in twelve hours, and
the other recovered in two days. Cases twenty-nine and
thirty : two horses had been standing for some time in the
Infirmary Stables— one suffering from staggers, and the other
from lameness. On the evening of the 13th the first
symptoms of this disease were noticed, but, in consequence
of the measures adopted, they began to be convalescent at
noon on the next day. Of the other horses in the stable at
that time none were affected, although no attempts had been
made at separation. Case thirty-one : on the 14th of Septem-
ber in the evening, in the stud stallion stable, the stallion Jupiter
sickened ; on the morning of the 1 5th he was brought into
the Veterinary Stables, and at first rallied, but on the 22nd of
September he died of the disease. Case thirty-second : on
the 15th of September, four horses belonging to the riding-
master of the Guard came back from the manoeuvres, but of
this number, however, I only found one exhibiting the early
symptoms of the malady, and this in a short time recovered.
Case thirty-three: On the evening of the 15th, the stud
stallion Amico became ill, but on the following morning was
again out of danger. There were other cases treated which I
have not mentioned here, because my convictions do not
enable me to pronounce definitively as to their identity with
this malady, and the great care shown when any horses were
taken ill caused them to be at once put under medical treat-
ment before the symptoms made any progress. The disease
now made a pause, for from the 15th of September until the
14th of October, no new cases appeared. Cases thirty-four,
thirty-five, and thirty-six : on the last-named day, three
horses belonging to Prince Frederick, and which had fully
recovered, relapsed shortly after their return from a rapid
drive. One, a white gelding, died the following morning ;
another, a brown stallion, died the same evening ; the third, a
bay gelding, recovered. Without taking into account these
three cases, it appears there occurred within eight days, from
the 7th to the 15 th of September, thirty-three cases of

Period from A.D. 1830 to A.D. 1835. 157

abdominal typhus ; of these, twenty died from the immediate
effects of the malady, and the other two soon after from its
secondary consequences. In the majority of the horses
attacked, one could] not help being convinced that up to the
period of its invasion they were healthy. Some had been
working shortly before they were seized ; others were attacked
while at work; and others again had been standing for
several days idle. The attack was consequently sudden and
without warning; the animals at once refused their food,
hung their heads, and showed in their behaviour symptoms
more of fear than actual pain. The dung was generally at
the commencement hard, but shortly after diarrhoea set in,
and the fluid excrement was reddish, or rather clay-coloured.
In some cases, as in twenty-seven and twenty-eight, the
disease began at once with diarrhoea ; in others, on the
contrary, as in twenty-five and thirty-one, diarrhoea did not
take place at all. The urine was scanty, and the skin was
often covered with sweat, which, however, did not lead
to any improvement in the symptoms. Very striking was
the smell of the breath ; it was generally described as of
a sweet but foul odour, like that of putrid wurzel or cabbage.
It appeared to me to resemble the smell of carburetted
hydrogen gas ; it was nearly always the first symptom of
the disease, and it increased as this progressed. The pulse
was, at the beginning, full and quick, numbering sixty to
seventy, and even rose up to a hundred and twenty-eight per
minute ; in other cases it was small and hard ; it always,
however, soon became very weak, and in the advanced stages
of the disease scarcely appreciable. The beats of the heart
at first could only be felt close to the chest, but very soon it
began to throb strongly. Blood drawn from the veins was
black, thick, and like tar ; it settled into a solid mass without
any serum, or remained for a long time fluid, and of an
unctuous consistency. The respiration was often at the com-
mencement of the seizure laboured and audible ; at a later
period it became quickened ; deglutition was difficult ;
although the animals remained conscious up to the last
moment, there were not wanting symptoms of cerebral de-

15S History of Animal Plagues.

rangement. The great depression immediately on the com-
mencement of the attack — the noticeable speedy and
considerable loss of power in its advance — the insensibility
of the skin to the effects of counter-irritants, etc., all showed
a serious derangement of the nervous system. With all this
there were combined an increase of the pulse and the respira-
tion, tremblings, jactitations of the neck and head, which
soon terminated in paralysis. The animals in the course of
the disease either did not lie down at all, or if they did, soon
got up again. Age and sex appeared to have no influence
whatever on the course of the disease ; which, nevertheless,
in the earlier cases, was much more rapid in inducing fatal
effects than at a later period : in the former death occurred
in a few hours, while in the latter the patients held out for
twelve or twenty-four hours, or even for three days. Where
the animal recovered, convalescence was as rapid, and only
with two or three horses was there any doubt, after twenty-
four hours, as to whether they would be saved or lost.
An autopsy showed the following results : the bodies were
in good condition, some of them very fat ; nowhere under
the skin were there serous effusions except where embro-
cations had been used, and even then the effusion was but
slight. On the other hand, the superficial veins were distended
with black fluid blood ; in the intestines were found patches
of a dark, inflamed, or even blueish colour, and these were
sometimes more noticeable in the small intestines, sometimes
in the larger ; but seldom was the injection of any great
extent. It only pervaded the mucous membrane, which was
not thickened, but rather appeared thinner than usual. Under
the serous membrane were, in some cases, small ecchymosed
spots, and in one instance the mucous layer showed the same
characteristic markings. The openings of the mucous follicles,
especially in .those animals which were seized with diarrhoea,
were very visible ; nowhere was there inflammation of the
intestines. The contents of the stomach were, with the
exception of one case, tolerably dry ; in the small intestines
were found that peculiar fluid before noticed as having been
passed in the diarrhoea, and which was of the colour and

Period from A.D. 1830 to A.D. 1835. 159

consistency of wine lees, having but few particles of food in it.
Although the majority of the animals treated had received
doses of hydrochloric acid, the contents of the small intestines
had either an alkaline or a neutral reaction. The liver was
sometimes larger, sometimes smaller than usual ;^vas mostly
of a light colour, and hard, though at times it was soft. The
hepatic ducts were full of bile ; the spleen was rather small
than large ; otherwise it was generally sound, though in some
cases it was swollen and had dark patches in it. The veins of
the mesentery and of the omentum were full of tarry blood.
The kidneys were softened and darker than usual; the
bladder contained a small quantity of pale, transparent urine.
The mucous membrane of the genital organs of some mares
was reddened ; the lungs contained much dark blood, and
hence were more solid than usual ; the pleura was in each case
covered with large or small patches of ecchymoses ; and the
pleura-pulmonalis was separated from the lung-tissue, as if
there had been emphysema. In the trachea, the membrane
of which was here and there discoloured, there was a large
quantity of frothy mucus ; almost alwaysi without exception
the lining membrane of the aorta was covered with extensive
ecchymoses where it sprang from the heart, as well as along
the vertebral artery, and even in the ventricle of the heart.
This contained a quantity of black fluid blood, and only in
two cases — seven and twenty-one — was there found a small
coagulum. The mucous membrane of the mouth was, by the
distension of the bloodvessels, swollen and dark-coloured, and
the same appearance was observed in the nostrils. The brain
showed the membranes slightly injected, and neither on its
surface nor yet in its ventricles could an undue quantity of
serum be discovered. Of the exciting or proximate causes of
this disease we remain in a state of perfect uncertainty ; but
we may surely take for granted that in the stables in which it
sought and found its victims, no occasion could be given for
the appearance of this epizooty, either in the quality of the
food or the general hygiene so scrupulously maintained. In
years of scarcity, or when the forage was faulty, such might
have been the case ; but such an error in the way of manage-

i6o History of Animal Plagues.

ment could not well have occurred at this time where the
horses, though all belonging to the one establishment, were
yet kept in stables widely apart. The weather was not
unusual, neither at the outbreak of the disease, nor in the
previous month. The mean pressure of the barometer was, in
August, 27" 4" 5 September, 27" 3"', and the monthly
difference was 6,63" and 10,60"' in September ; but we must
remark that the greater variations of the barometer occurred
in the last third of September — at a time, therefore, when the
disease had already ceased. The temperature was at the same
time not remarkable, nor yet did it show rapid changes ; the
thermometer ranged in August between +8° and 26°, and in
September between +6° and 20°, Several storms occurred
in August, but otherwise the month was fine. On the other
hand, it rained during the second half of September almost
daily, though not heavily. If the weather had really been
capable of at all exercising any influence on the abdominal
typhus, it must have been noticed elsewhere, and even in
Stuttgart have caused its extension. It remains, therefore, in
this as in many similar cases, that the cause is completely
hidden ; as we can find no sufficient cause to account for the
disease either in the predisposition of those attacked, nor in
their nourishment, in the mode in which they were used, nor
yet in the atmospherical conditions. Should we lay the blame
on telluric :or cosmical influences ? or shall we call to our
assistance the presence of a miasma, as in the case of the
cholera, which is said to attack here and there a house, a street,
or a town ; now creeps from dwelling to dwelling, or at once
makes a spring over whole countries and seas ? The idea of
an infection presses itself upon us by its own force, and is
worthy of a thorough examination. On the one hand, several
animals in the same stable and in stables which were under
the same roof, or not far apart, sickened ; on the other hand,
although in some stables the whole, or nearly the whole, of
the horses therein sickened, yet in the Royal Mews, the Court
Mews, and the stud stables, as well as in the barracks of the
Guard, several hundred horses were exposed to the infection
without the slightest evil result Whatever causes

Period from A.D. 1830 to A.D. 1835. 161

may have been in operation, they must undoubtedly have
been more purely local than general ; their influence on
the animal body is less obscure than their nature. In
consequence of the previous hot weather, the increased
activity of the venae portae system had altered the character
of the blood by making it richer in carbon ; the dark colour
of this fluid, the absence of coagulability, its great tendency to
extravasation through the walls of the capillary vessels,
points not less to an increased venosity, but even to an
abnormal approach in the character of the whole circulating .
medium to the blood of the vans portae (This is the only
affinity observable between this disease and splenic apoplexy
{milsbrand) ; with the apoplectic form of the latter it cannot
be compared, inasmuch as at the commencement of this
malady there is disturbance of the brain, and the senses are
in abeyance; in milzbrand it is known that carnivorous
animals are aff"ected by eating of the flesh of the diseased ;
therefore were dogs and cats fed on the carrion of those
which had been most aff"ected by the malady, and they were
also inoculated with the blood of these beasts, but without
any result. In like manner, some people who had wounded
their hands during the dissections escaped injury.) The
lungs appeared to be impregnated with carburetted hydrogen,
hence the odour of the breath ; but the formation of this gas
did not seem to have increased, the large quantity of fat in
the well-nourished animals had no doubt a disadvantageous
influence in this. Hence it was demonstrated that this fever
was not a purely inflammatory one, and the exhaustion of the
functions followed very rapidly under the influence of the
sympathetic nervous system. For it is evident that the
disease was principally due to the implication of this part of
the nervous system, and that the brain and spinal cord were
only involved at a later stage, and sometimes not at all. The
sudden secretion of a large quantity of watery fluid in the
intestinal canal points equally to a total subversion of the
secretory functions, and equally explains the suppression of
the urine which was observed. One might almost have com-
pared this intestinal fluid with that observed in haematemesis,

1 1

r

l62

History of Animal Plagues.

for it had the appearance of boiled blood mingled with water.
The ecchymoses,j about and in the heart may be partially
ascribed to the already mentioned condition of the blood, and
also to the very severe death-struggles of the animals. Death
arose from paralysis of the circulatory system, and especially
of the right side of the heart. As the infection proceeded
from the stomach and intestines, as there was fever, and the
symptoms were often contradictory and bore no comparison
to the dangerous character of the disease, I have, following
the example of my predecessors, who have introduced into
veterinary nosology a lung typhus, a stable typhus {stall-
typhus),^tc., called this malady the "abdominal or stomach
typhus." Whether this typhus is the same as cholera m
mankind, I leave to the judgment of others. The striking
similarity between the two diseases is beyond doubt, and if
the cholera had been prevalent in Stuttgart at that time, or
if the horse first attacked had come from an infected neigh-
bourhood, one would have had good grounds for establishing
the identity of the diseases.'^

In Orenburg the following circumstance was noted, as an
example of the poisonous character of choleraic dejections :
' As a remarkable example of the danger of cholera evacua-
tions it may be noticed that a physician of Orenburg, who was
accustomed to take two dogs with him on his rounds, went to
a cholera patient in 1829, where these animals licked up some
blood that had fallen on the floor from an open vein. The)-
were soon afterwards attacked with violent convulsions,
sickened, and ceased to breathe/ 2

In the village of Capitanowka, near Odessa, the lower
animals seemed to have suffered from symptoms of cholera :
' In this village, in December, 1830, as also m other places,
the cholera has broken out among the cattle, as well as man-
kind, and is causing ^great mortality.' At Taganrog, the
same observer says of this affection among animals : Dn
Dobrodejew, who was sent to Taganrog speaks in his report
of the appearance of cholera among the lower animals, and

1 Hering. Magazin fiir thierarzte, vol. iii.

9 Hamburg. Magazin f. a. Lit. vol. xix. p. 374-

Period from A.D. 1830 io A.D. 1835. 163

also among poultry, while it raged among men. In some
establishments the greater part of the hens and turkeys died
of this disease ; the symptoms of which— vomiting, dysentery,
convulsions — were also noticed in a crane, and in several
dogs.'^

Fowls shared largely in the prevailing unhealthiness of the
season, and there was a strange similarity in the symptoms :
'At Kortschewa (Poland), geese and ducks were frequently
attacked by cholera. This was marked by outstretched head
and neck, which they held low over the water, and constantly
swayed to the right and left. On the land, when walking,
they fell on their side as if giddy. They vomited a fluid like
clear water, and purged a whitish-coloured matter. Nothing
was noticeable about the head ; the intestines, however,
and especially the rectum, contained a creamy fluid.' 2

In the month of May, in the year preceding the arrival
of the cholera, a malady appeared among the domestic
fowls in Posen, which was supposed to have been brought
from Poland. Hens, turkeys, ducks, but above all, geese,
died in large numbers in all the circles of the grand-duchy,
and particularly in that of Inowraclaw, in the months of
August and September. It was also reported to have been
prevalent among the wild ducks in the lake of Goplo. 'Those
first attacked were in general the geese, then the ducks and
the turkeys, and the last the hens. Sometimes a number
would have diarrhoea or dysentery, and they would begin to
walk lame, and very slowly ; then they would lie down and
lose the power to get up again, continuing to eat until they
suddenly died. Others, without any premonitory symptoms,
would unexpectedly die while eating, walking, or swimming.
Dr. Erdt, at Bromberg, relates that when to all appearance
healthy, they were seized with vomiting and diarrhoea, and in
about an hour or half an hour they died ; if they lived for a
day they had vertigo and ultimately perished. In their
bodies were found an enlarged liver, and the gall-bladder in-
creased in size, and full of bile ; the muscles of a deep-red

1 Hamburg. Magazin f. a. Lit. vols. xix. xx.
"^Radius. Mktheilungen, vol. ii. p. 42.

II — 2

t64 History of Animal Plagues.

colour ; those fowls which died at night exhaled a very
strong cadaverous odour in the morning. In some the lungs
were dark red, black, and softened, and gorged with black
blood. The stomach was in general large, and contained a
yellow mucus and sound grain ; the intestines were empty,
except having a quantity of yellowish mucus. The bodies
of these animals contained much fat.'^

In Galicia the cholera appeared at the end of the year. At
the same time so great a mortality broke out among poultry,
that in some places the greater portion of the turkeys and
hens died, and there was an unheard-of scarcity of fowls.
The symptoms were as follows : ' The animals attacked
became dull, did not eat, drank much, and carried their heads
very low, and in such a way that in the course of the malady
they have been seen sitting with their bills resting on the
ground ; from their mouths a limpid mucus flowed, and
they had a looseness by which a mass of mucus resembling
milk was evacuated. The disease usually lasted for two days,
though sometimes it terminated sooner. Only about one-
fifth part of those attacked recovered. Those that died were
emaciated, their skins were dark brown, the stomach blue and
pulpy, the intestines empty and of a violet colour, the liver
pale, and the eyes deep sunk in their orbits. Canary-birds
died in many houses.'^ During the prevalence of cholera at
Moscow, Dr. Jaenichen saw geese, hens, and turkeys, and
many other species of animals, affected with similar symptoms;*
and in the government of Twer poultry suffered from cholera.*
At the end of the year a deadly epizooty raged among fowls
at Trieste, while the epidemic was most severe among the
people there.

In the Austrian dominions we have an elaborate detail of
the diseases which were observed among beasts and birds
during, or previous to, the epidemy, by Hildebrand. According
to his researches, derived from eye-witnesses, the air in many
places was filled with a stinking fog, and electrical machines

1 Cohen. Generalbeiicht d. Med. Colleg. zu Posen, 1830.

2 CEsterreich. Med. Jahrbuch. vol. xvii. p. 442.

^Heusingcr. Op. cit. p. 95- ' Klciucrt. Reperloiium, vol. i. p. 284.

Period from A.D. 1830 to A.D. 1835. 165

would produce no sparks. Plants did not blossom well;
cabbages and cauliflowers were blighted, and those who used
them as food had diarrhoea. Vegetables in general lost their
flavour, and were dangerous to eat ; toads were seldom seen ;
tree caterpillars resolved themselves into a blueish dust ; certain
species of insects, of the genus carabus and curculio, were not
to be seen ; sparrows and swallows were very scarce during
the summer months, as well as rats and mice, and jackdaws
had disappeared ; flies, game, and fish were seldom seen.
Hares, foxes, and wolves were found dead in the woods, and
no song-birds were heard among the trees; indeed, the
country people were struck by the universal stillness, where
before birds used to make a regular din. Fish floated dead
in the streams and lakes, and in the leech-ponds these useful
creatures had nearly all died or disappeared ; those procured
with some trouble were far from being vigorous, and would
rarely perform their required functions. At the gardens of
the Grand Duke Palatine, at Ofen, three pairs of water
salamanders, which had been kept in a pond for a year and a
half, died the second day after cholera appeared in the
locality. Canaries died in the houses whose inmates were
attacked, and all the domestic animals— horses, cattle, dogs,
pigs, cats, and poultry — were seized in some place or another
with symptoms more or less of cholera. In one farm, out of
one hundred and seventy-two cattle, one hundred and two
died within a very brief space — and the mortality varied, but
was generally great. In a particular district it was noted that
oxen needed one-third more forage to enable them to get
through their ordinary work. All seemed troubled and
weaker than usual, and more particularly was it remarked
that their procreative functions were affected, for they pro-
duced fewer young, and these were small and weakly.

Out of six thousand Spanish sheep which, at other times,
were estimated to produce fifteen hundred lambs, only one-
half were obtained in the cholera year. Vegetation was
thought to have lost much of its nourishing properties, and
animals appeared not to thrive on it. In cattle and horses
particularly, diarrhoea was a prominent symptom, and this was

i66

History of Animal Plagues.

in many cases relieved or cured by mixing in their food some
ipecacuanha. As the cholera disappeared the heavens
brightened, the air became purer, and the most delightful
weather set in — the autumn lasting far into November, and the
flowers blossoming a second time.^

At Paris, and elsewhere in France, M. Moiroud records an
epizooty of diabetes in horses.^ In Nassau an epizooty of
anthrax appeared among hogs, and Professor Hertwig of
Berlin describes a strange outbreak of ' grease ' in horses,
which I will notice more lengthily in the author's own words,
as it possesses some points of importance : ' In Berlin, after
the lower animals had been tolerably free from disease during
the winter, and only such sporadic affections as catarrh and
gastric derangements had shown themselves, there suddenly
appeared a wide-spread attack of " grease " {mauke) among
the horses, and in March and April it assumed a real epizootic
character. It affected those horses which were kept in the
stable quite as frequently as those always employed out of
doors, and spared neither sex, age, nor race. The animals
showed slight fever, rested one of the limbs, which showed
increased warmth around the coronet or the pastern. After a
few hours, never beyond the second day, swelling was notice-
able, and then exudations of a yellowish fluid were perceiv-
able ; in from three to four days, in most, but net in all horses,
extensive sloughing of the skin took place. In a short time
inflammatory ulcers appeared — sometimes on the coronet, and
at other times before or behind the pastern — extending deep
into the cellular tissue, even to the tendons and bones, spread-
ing themselves to some distance. The discharges from these
ulcers was of a yellowish colour, occasionally mingled with
blood, highly putrescent, and stinking— the stench, indeed,
was so great that two patients so impregnated the atmosphere
in a ten-stalled stable as to make it unbearable to any human
being. In from six to eight days the tumefaction began to
decrease, and the tension to which it gave rise subsided ; as a
consequence, the ulcers assumed a healthy suppurative cha-

1 Hildebrand. CEsterreich. Med. Jahrbuch, vol. xvii.
' Recueil de Med. Veter. vol. vii. p. 327.

Period from A.D. 1830 to A.D. 1835. 167

racter,and began to granulate, and in almost all cases the
healing process rapidly set in. The only exceptions were
those fn which the bones, the cartilages of the hoof, or the
sinews had suffered. From the large quantity of acrid fluid
which ran from the ulcers, it was almost impossible to avoid
soiling the hands during examination or treatment, and the
consequence was that I and ten students were really infected.
I had no wounded finger, neither had several of the others,
though for the remainder there is no certainty. In from six
to eight days we all had fever, weariness, and indisposition.
On nine of the infected dark-coloured pustules showed theni-
selves on the fingers and hands, but especially on the joints
of the fingers ; and at the same time the lymphatic glands
began to inflame on the arm, and the lymphatic glands m the
axilla also became more or less swollen. This implication of
the lymphatics always manifested itself by red streaks begin-
ning at the hand and running up the arm towards the shoulder.
The swelling of the glands was in many cases so great that
the arm could not be bent on the breast. The pustules in
three days became ulcers, which had quite the character of
carbuncles, and were healed by digestive ointments ; if the
other symptoms subsided the patient recovered m fourteen
days from the outbreak of the disorder. It is remarkable that
two of the students, in addition to the above-mentioned
swellings and ulcers, had also pocks upon the arm which, m
appearance and in their different phases, bore the most exact
resemblance to the true cow-pox ; and it is still more remark-
able that both these subjects had been affected with the small-
pox in their youth, and had never been vaccinated. On the
contrary, I and the others had been vaccinated. Dr. Bremer
has closely observed and described these pustules daily on
one of the eleven, and I also vaccinated a cow and a calf with
the exudation from the horse's heels, and in both these cases
no pox appeared. Whether, then, this matter of " grease " is
of the same nature as that described by Edward Jenner as
protective of small-pox, I cannot decide, as no description of
this material has yet reached me ; even in England I have
asked for it in vain.'^

^Hcrtwig. Verhandlung d. arztl. ges. d. Schweiz, 1830.

i68 History of Animal Plagues.

Vast swarms of a gnat {Siimilia Columbaschensis) which is
bred in the marshy regions of Servia, appeared in a large tract
of Austria, Hungary, and Moravia overflowed by the river
Marsch, and hundreds of horses, cows, and swine perished from
their bites.^

The following curious circumstance was communicated to
the Zoological Society of Paris by M. Baraquin, in 1867 : 'In
1830 there was such an abundance of horses in the island of
Marajo, belonging to the delta of the River Amazon, that a
president of the province of Para made an agreement with a
company to allow them to kill as many of these animals as
they chose, for the sake of the skins, which fetched fifteen
francs each, while the live horse did not cost more than six
francs. The horses were slaughtered with such carelessness
that the carcases, left unburied, gave rise to a dangerous
infection, which could only be got rid of by setting fire to the
whole island, which was thickly wooded. This measure
caused the death of all the horses that still survived, and since
that time it has been impossible to re-introduce the breed on
the island, all the horses brought thither soon falling victims
to a paralysis of the hind-legs.

A.D. 1831. Epidemic influenza appeared in Europe. At
Paris it was prevalent in May, and was named grippe' A
remarkable analogy was noticed between the ' medical con-
stitution ' \A>^hich existed for some months previously and the
development of the disease. Scientific observers are generally
of opinion that these catarrhal epidemics have nearly always
followed cold moist seasons, and appear to be more immedi-
ately induced by sudden atmospheric vicissitudes. The
symptoms exhibited by people who were attacked closely
resembled those observed about the same time in the equine
species.

In England, during the month of May, the weather was
unusually variable, the barometer rising and falling suddenly,
and the thermometer standing one day at 80° (Fahr.), and
another day at 32°. The wind prevailed steadily from the
north-east. In June, the thermometer ranged from 40° to

1 Kirby and Spence. Entomology, p. 82.

Period fvoyn A.D. 1830 to A.D. 1835. 169

80°, generally varying between 75° and 60°— an unusually
high temperature ; with a south-west wind, and a singular
humidity of the atmosphere.^ This was the month in which
the influenza began. The symptoms in mankind commenced
with coryza, attended by cough; dyspnoea, with severe
bronchial irritation supervened, when the paroxysm suddenly
became greatly aggravated. One symptom was remarked as
being general and prominent: a feeling of lassitude and
fatigue of the limbs, with more or less great moral prostration.
The disease was not very fatal, and generally lasted for eight
or ten days.2 This disease prevailed very extensively among
horses, but in a more serious form than in mankind. ' At the
close of last summer, and at the commencement of the autumn
(influenza in man having commenced in June), a disease of an
epizootic character prevailed rather extensively in these parts ;
and, as I have reason to believe, it extended elsewhere. . . .
I have never seen the disease described by any English
authors.3 jhe virulence of the complaint differed very much
in different subjects, and I will proceed to mention the
symptoms attending the most virulent cases. Attention was
invariably first called to the disease by the sudden and total
loss of appetite; On examination, the mouth was found
excessively hot, the bowels costive, and the faeces cased in
mucus ; urine scant and high-coloured, pulse from 70 to 90 in
a minute, increasing in one or two cases to 120, and often
intermittent. . . . The whole countenance was dull and
heavy, and the lids, particularly of one eye, generally consider-
ably swollen.'*

Mr. Percivall, writing in 1832, observes : 'During the last
month, March, and also — though to a less extent— during the
present, an epidemic disorder has been flying about among
the horses in this neighbourhood (London), which, though
quite of a different nature from the one that has caused so
much needless alarm and disturbance among the rational part

1 London Medical Gazette, vol. viii. p. 587. - Bascome. Op. cit. p. 159.

^ This veterinarian was evidently not acquainted with the writings of Gibson,
Osmer, and others.

*Sj>ooner (Southampton). On the Influenza of Horses, p. 9.

History of Animal Plagues.

of the creation, has called for the vigilance and attention of
the medical practitioner. ... It has proved a disorder readily-
recognizable, and one (judiciously treated) unattended with
danger. To the eye of the experienced practitioner, the
animal's countenance at once betrays his malady. . . . The
first intimation you have of the complaint is, that the animal is
* off his feed that he either ate nothing, or but a little hay
during the past night ; and that he has likewise refused his
morning feed. You visit the animal, and find him dull and
dispirited, his countenance betraying his malady ; the eye
exhibiting either that peculiar gloomy dolorous aspect which
a drooping lid and listless spirit give it, or else itself being
affected with the disorder, when it is found nearly or quite
closed, and overflowing with lachrymal secretion. The pulse
rarely is so low as 50, and seldom mounts beyond 60.
The coat — particularly on the parts left exposed — becomes
pen-feathered, loosing its glossy sleekness; the extremities
become cold ; the mouth unusually warm and dry ; the urine
sparing, and more or less difficulty in voiding it ; the dung
contracted into small hard balls, and sparing in quantity.
Such are the ordinary — the very ordinary symptoms. Now
and then the disorder has been ushered in by a shivering fit,
which I have known to last— off and on— for twenty-four
hours. Some cases exhibit catarrhal symptoms along with the
above ; a cough is a common concomitant ; a discharge
from the nose more commonly supervenes [upon the primary
disorder than commences with it. The most common of the
sequela of the disorder is swelling in the legs— the Jiind
always, sometimes the fore too. In too or three cases it has
been ushered in by vertigo, to such a degree that the animal
has with difficulty staggered a few paces from its stall into a
box. ... I consider the said disease extraordinary, because it
attacks many horses at the same season, without manifesting
any results that lead me to pronounce it contagious .... it
manifestly disorders the whole frame and constitution of the
animal, without evincing any signs enabling us to detect its
seat or source. In one case the eyes are most affected ; m
another, the legs ; in a third, the air-passages ; in a fourth, the

Period from A.D. 1830 to A.D. 1835. 171

brain. In many, none of these local attacks have developed
themselves. I consider it to be of a nature different from
diseases in general, because it will not unfrequently make its
appearance in an animal at the very time that he is under the
influence of those agents which are found most effectual in its
removal.'^

This influenza also affected the horses in Scotland, accord-
ing to Professor Dick, of Edinburgh, who witnessed a similar
malady affecting cattle.^ In the Compte Rendu of the
Veterinary School at Lyons, for 183 1, we find that the
epizooty had extended to France. ' The variable tempera-
ture and frequent rains that occurred towards the close of
the last year and the beginning of the present one, caused a
great number of inflammations of the mucous membrane of
the respiratory passages both in the horse and dog. In the
latter, the disease which attacks young animals consists of a
simultaneous inflammation of the mucous membrane of the
alimentary and pulmonary organs, particularly the last. It
resisted all the ordinary means of treatment, and destroyed
the greater part of those attacked. With the horses, in nearly
fifty of those affected with this inflammation of the mucous
membrane of the respiratory passages, the malady was not
serious ; but laryngitis was frequently complicated with coryza,
rhinitis, tracheitis, or bronchitis. In the latter form, an acci-
dental symptom is frequently observable, namely, a very loud
respiration — a sort of snoring, which becomes more intense
when the patient is eating. In all the animals attacked by
this disease, the throat was sore ; a few had considerable
tumefaction of this part, and some evinced much pain when
the trachea was compressed ; all coughed more or less, while
there was a slight mucous discharge from the nostrils. The
mucous membrane of the stomach participated very little in
this morbid affection, as evidenced by the unimpaired state of
the appetite.' 3

In the district of Hoxter, Prussian Westphalia, this disease

'^Percivall. The Veterinarian, vol. v. p. 2i6.
* Dick. The Veterinarian, vol. vi. p. 209.
'Journal de Veter. de Lyon, 1832,

172

History of Animal Plagues.

— which was there designated a ' nervous epizootic fever ' —
appeared, and was very fatal. In one establishment, for
instance, seventeen out of twenty-one attacked died. Later
in the year it became more general, and a very large propor-
tion of those affected succumbed. At the same time what
was called a ' nervous catarrhal fever,' with more or less of
bronchitis, seized cattle ; it was not severe, and but few died.^
As we shall see presently, the epizooty was generally pre-
valent in Germany.

An epizooty was reported by Burnes as affecting the horses
of Runjeet Sing, at Puttee, in the Punjaub. ' The horses of
this stud were lately attacked by an epidemic disease, of
which a Mahommedan, who resides in a neighbouring sanc-
tuary, is believed to have cured them. Though a Mahomme-
dan, the Sikhs have in gratitude repaired and beautified his
temple, which is now a conspicuous white building, that
glitters in the sun.' 2

In Mandroros, Russia, a severe epidemy of gangrene of the
spleen — almost identical in its pathological features with the
splenic apoplexy of the lower animals — caused much mortality.
An epidemy of ergotism was also reported as occurring in
many northern countries, caused by the wheat, rye, and corn
having become diseased. It lasted during this and the next
year, and animals seem to have suffered. Wagner described
it as it appeared in the marshy districts of Saxony, the circle
of Schlieben, and on the banks of the Elster. ' A light frost
destroyed the blossom on the vine and the rye in 1831. Each
partially withered blossom of the rye crop, instead of a
healthy seed, brought forth a spur of ergot about three-fourths

of an inch long In some houses, where the disease

raged most violently, grain was found consisting of two parts
of diseased and one of bitter rye, vetch, and a variety of other

seeds Pigs ate ergotized rye {viutterkorn) , and suffered

from its effects. Dogs, however, instinctively avoided it ; but
when compelled by hunger to eat it, they exhibited symptoms
of madness {tolhvuth). I believe that such food was partaken

1 Sanitatsbericht des Med. Colleg. zu Munster, 1831.
" Bumes. Travels into Bokhara, vol. ii. p. 10.

Period from A.D. 1830 to A.D. 1835. 173

of here and there by dogs, and that it assisted in producing
madness, as dogs and cats were so affected that no man ever
remembers seeing so many mad as during the existence of
the ergotism {Kriebelkrankheit) among the people.'^ This
unhealthy grain may have had something to do with tlie
sickness among the lower animals which prevailed at this
time, and which was ascribed to the choleraic influence,
though its share must have been small.

In the district of Bray, Seine Inferieure, France, a typhoid
contagious pneumonia (epizootic pleuro-pneumonia ?) was
very destructive among cattle, and increased until 1839.2
Small-pox in sheep was unusually prevalent in Bavaria.*
The Russian troops engaged in the conquest of Poland had
carried with them into that unhappy country, in addition to
the miseries of war and the cholera, the Cattle Plague, by
means of the droves of cattle derived from the Steppe country.
We shall see that it was introduced into Courland from the
infected districts, and soon spread in that country, and from
thence into the government of Bromberg, Prussia, where it
raged in 1832.*

Cholera in mankind was still continuing its ravages. It
followed the Russian army sent to subjugate Poland, and in
Warsaw and many other places it was very destructive in
April and May. In June it had reached Cracow and ex-
tended to Galicia, Hungary, Smyrna, and Constantinople.
It also appeared among the pilgrims at Mecca, and was very
fatal. In August it broke out at Alexandria, and about the
same time nearly all the towns in the Delta of the Nile suf-
fered greatly. In Bagdad a fearful mortality raged among
the people, caused partly by the overcrowding of the inhabi-
tants, due to the surrounding country being inundated by the
rivers Tigris and Euphrates. Cholera showed itself in
Northumberland in October, and made its appearance in

I Wagner. Journal de Hufeland, vols. Ixxiii. Ixxiv. Ixxv.
- Delafond. Recueil de Med. Veter. vol. xvii. p. 593-

Wurtemberg. Verordn. p. 151.
* Erdt. Mittheilungen iiber de Rinderpest in dem regierungsberg Bromberg.
Gurll unci Herhvig. Magazin, vol. i. p. 43.

174

History of Animal Plagues.

Scotland about Christmas, Edinburgh and Leith being
severely visited in the following spring. Authors speak of
fogs and stinking mists in various places before or during the
prevalence of this pestilence,^ of modifications of the state of
the atmosphere with respect to its electricity and other
characteristics, as well as other phenomena, such as birds
leaving' their nests, etc. In Hesse and the neighbouring
countries, universal astonishment was excited by the arrival
of immense swarms of caterpillars of the Artica Caja, which
covered the pastures and the cultivated ground.^

iPor instance, in England Dr. Neale remarks : ' Sunday, 8tJi of August, 1831,
it was new moon at ten o'clock in the evening ; light winds variable from the
south-west to the west and north-west quarters ; thermometer between 79° and
83° in the shade towards midday. On Monday (9th) and Tuesday (loth), I
remarked (although the atmosphere was dry and clear) a smell as if of burnt leaves,
which has been observed at times to precede pestilence. On the Wednesday
morning (the iith), having been awakened by some noise as early as three o'clock
in the morning, I arose half an hour afterwards, and on going to the window of
my chamber (which fronts the east), I remarked, on drawing aside my window-
blinds (the sash having been left open all night on account of the oppressive heat
of the weather), that the rain, which had been falling all night, was still descending
very heavily (as in a more southern climate), but that there was at the same time
a very thick mist, of a tawny-orange colour, and that the wind was then south-east.
In about an hour the rain ceased, and the wind having shifted successively lowest,
and north-west, the mist disappeared, and was followed by a clear day of sunshine.
That afternoon, very many people were attacked in the city of R. with severe
cholera, attended with dreadful spasms; and on the following morning, Mr. B., a
practitioner in S. (a small town at a little distance, built on a marsh, near an
estuary of the sea), was called up early to tTiirty persons all attacked suddenly with
dysentery, attended with violent spasms. As to myself, after remaining at the
open window for seven or eight minutes, observing this strange mist, I perceived a
very strong and disagreeable bitterish taste in my mouth, which I could not get
rid of until I had gargled several times with a mixture of chlorate of lime and
water, A neighbour of mine, who had also been awakened by the noise, and had
gone towards her window and looked out at the mist, was seized that afternoon
with nausea and colicky pains and other gastric symptoms, and an eruption on the
' sacrum. ... On the same day, this lady's daughter, living in the adjacent town
over which the mist had passed, was seized about three o'clock p.m. with a very
alarming attack of cholera, attended with strong spasmodic symptoms. . . . Once
before I recollect to have witnessed a similar tawny-ycllow mist, which occurred
at Ciudad Rodrigo, Spain, in the morning of a dry day, during the month of
August, 1812. The mist was followed by great sickness amongst the British
troops from the yellow fever, which prevailed epidemically during the whole of
that warm summer and autumn.'-Op. cit. p. 234. It appears that the Arabs term
the cholera Rih el Asfar, or ' Yellow-wind. Pilgrimage to El Medmah
and Mecca, vol. :. p. 367- ' Heusinger. Op. cit. p. 368.

Period from A.D. 1830 to A.D. 1835. 175

The diseases of the lower animals were closely observed in
many parts of the Continent, and especially with reference to
their relation with the cholera in mankind. At St. Petersburg,
leeches were observed to be curiously affected, according to
Mayer, who says : ' Leeches, although fresh caught, bit (in the
case of non-choleraic patients) unwillingly, and died in large
numbers without having been used, and notwithstanding the
utmost care having been taken for their preservation.''

The Medical Society of Stettin, which undertook an investi-
gation into the nature and causes of cholera in that town,
makes the following observation with regard to epizootic
diseases : ' Still we notice that the milzbrand (anthracoid)
class of diseases was prevalent only in the year 1826; later
they were only local until the year 1829, when they again
became general, as well as the other enzootic diseases common
to oxen — such as the lung-disease, and the sheep- rot, which
in time became more rare. One striking peculiarity in the
animal world must be noticed here, and that is, that the year
1827, which was highly favourable to all kinds of insects,
brought the locusts, which had not been seen in our province
since 1754. In September, 1827, in the village of Leopolds-
hagen, near Anclam, immediately after a heavy storm, three
hundred and fifteen geese died within an hour, and without
any appreciable cause. From June till August, 1828, along
the whole course of the Oder and its estuaries, there was
observed a phenomenon, which, so far as our researches extend,
has never before been witnessed in this country, although a
similar occurrence is not unfrequent on the coast of Italy and
other places — namely, a mortality among fish. First of all the
sturgeon died, and, later, pike and eels ; and in such a quantity
that their bodies lay along the banks in thousands ; so that
here and there police measures became necessary to guard
against disease being generated from their decomposition.
An examination of their bodies showed inflammation of the
intestinal canal ; no satisfactory reason could be found for
this disease. A similar mortality occurred among fish ot

^ Mayer. Erfahrungen und Bemerken iiber die Cholera-Epidemie, p. 79.

1 76 History of Animal Plagues.

all descriptions, in 1830, in the so-called Upper Lake of
Giiltzow.'i

In the Baltic, the fish were suffering from some strange
disease. 'The newspapers, as well as the reports which,
during my residence at St. Petersburg, arrived from^ Riga,
allude to an enormous mortality among fish in the Baltic ; and
it is known that the inhabitants of the peninsula of Hela, who
are entirely supported by the fishery, were obliged to be
furnished with the means of living from Dantzic, as, for the
first time their usual subsistence had failed them. Like
occurrences were noticed in other places.'^ ^In Eastern Prussia,
the finny tribes were in an unhealthy condition, and perished
in large numbers in the lakes and ponds without any assign-
able cause ' In several lakes in various neighbourhoods m
the district of Marienburg, the whole of the fish have nearly
died From the Zempelburg lake alone, the police have
already buried forty tuns full. This occurrence is by no means
uncommon, and has no necessary connection with the epidemy
now raging. In the autumn the large stagnant waters often
assume a green or even a reddish colour, and thereafter, and
also perhaps in consequence thereof, the fish oftentimes die
This green and red, and occasionally blood-like, colouring of
the water appears to the naked eye only a coloured slime ;
under the microscope, however, it is discovered to be a vege-
table production consisting of various plants. The botanical
names of such as are known, whose appearance is really
accompanied by the death of the whole or a portion of the
fish are as follows: i. Oscillatoria rubescens. The renowned
botlnist. Lecandolle, gave this name to a red, s hmy and
filamentous substance which, in the year 1825, coloured the
larMurten,in Southern Switzerland, red, and m consequence
of wh ch la ge numbers of dead fishes appeared upon the
sur Ic^^ 2. Palmella ichtkyoMaMe was a green substance so
named by Professor Kunze, of Ldpsic, which covered a fish-
pond near that place, the fish in which also died.

1 Die Epidemische Cholera in Stettin, p. 8.

:S-«t BelSSn ?b.rd"as — » O.Un .-0 die

Cholera or herrschte. Berlm, 1831.

Period from A.D. 1830 to A.D. 1835. 177

It was likewise reported that at Landsberg, in Brandenburg,
an immense quantity of fish died in May, 1832 ; so that many
men had to be employed for a number of days in burymg
them. Their livers were found soft and discoloured.^

The general diseases affecting fish have often been alluded
to in thts history ; though beyond their occurrence, and the
occasional reference to some probable or improbable cause,
nothing has been satisfactorily ascertained of their nature or
generating influences, notwithstanding that these may be as
various as in the case of warm-blooded creatures. Even with
the piscine tribes as with terrestrial animals, certain regions
may be the unenviable haunts of subtle but powerful forces
which generate destructive maladies among their finny shoals,
and more or less affect the welfare of men or animals
dependent upon them for sustenance. For instance, near the
Frozen Sea, on the coasts of Siberia, great numbers of fish
perish annually, and we cannot select any writer more
worthy of credence for an account of this fact than Erman.
Speaking of this part of the world, he says : ' The mouth of
the Sosva, Hke those of the other Uralian streams which
descend into the Obi, is of the greatest importance for the
fishery ; for in December all the fish which ascend from the
sea turn westwards towards the sources, and remain up these
rivers until spring. With respect to all other portions, how-
ever, of the Obi and its tributary waters, the Ostyak and
Russian fishermen agree in asserting that they lose their inhabi-
tants, the fish in them dying about the beginning of January.
The rivers then die off, to use their expression, and living
places are to be found only in the vicinity of the springs.
They talk of the ' Samor ' or convulsions, and also of the
' blast ' or vapour, as of some peculiar deadly principle which
comes upon the fish and destroys them, either when at liberty,
or when taken in the falls. They suppose that the water then
acquires a quality poisonous to the fish, though to the eye
and taste it has undergone no change, and produces no effect
on the men who drink it. It may be reasonably conjectured,

1 Sanitatsbericht d. Provinz Brandenburg, 1832.

2 Erman. Travels in Siberia, vol. ii. pp. 2, 59.

12

178

History of Animal Plagues.

that the river-water under the ice gradually loses the air
necessary for the support of life ; but some different explana-
tion seems to be required for the suddenness of the effect, and
also on account of the remark of the fishermen, that the
Samor is more or less delayed and checked in its operation
wherever springs enter the Obi, whereas it is particularly fatal
in waters issuing from bogs and stagnant lakes. I had
subsequently an opportunity of convincing myself of the
existence of a similar mortality among the fish at the break-
ing up of the ice in the rivers which enter the sea of Okhotsk.'
Speaking of the young fish descending the rivers to the Polar
sea, between the months of January and June, he remarks :
' Of the parents of this brood, however, those alone which
have ascended farthest, and have first deposited their spawn,
can possibly return to the sea ; the rest, which reach in their
descent only the middle portion of the river, end their lives
by what appears to be a general malady ; but perhaps the
true view of the matter is, that the sea is deserted annually,
not by all the individuals of every kind of salmon, but only
by those of an advanced age, a considerable 'number of which
are not merely impelled by instincts connected with the
business of procreation, but also await their death (under any
circumstances not far distant) in the calm waters.'

M. Guyon, in a paper read before the French Academy of
Sciences, relates, that in 1831, when the cholera raged at
Warsaw, an epizooty appeared among the horses of a cavalry
regiment stationed there. Six of them died, and the most
prominent symptom manifested during their illness was ' the
sinking or retraction of the eyes within their orbits,' and this
characteristic was not absent from the fades of these animals
after death ; it is, of course, a most notable symptom in cholera.
In a village in the neighbourdood of Warsaw, twenty-seven
cows died in the space of eight days, after having shown, as
principal symptoms, intense thirst ; injected tearful eyes ; ears
burning hot at their roots, but cold at their extremities ; black
and hardened faeces; borborygoms ; and coldness of the
surface of the body. A young bull kept in a stable in
Warsaw, not far from the Vistula, dropped dead when turned

Period from A.D, 1830 to A.D. 1835. 179

out to graze. When the body was inspected, it was observed
that the eyes were drawn deeply into the sockets ; the vessels
of the conjunctivae were gorged with black blood, giving the
membrane a dark-blue tint ; the tongue and gums were cold
and extremely livid ; and it was only necessary to prick the
skin covering the muscles, or even to pass the fingers through
the hairs on the muzzle, to provoke muscular contraction.
In a village near Warsaw, a whole brood of chickens died,
with the mother, in one day. Their bodies were maculated
with black spots. During life they had passed nothing, either
by the beak or anus ; the combs were black, and the crop
swelled very much before death.^

Hildebrand, with great care, has collected from various
sources, and chiefly from the reports of competent authorities
who were eye-witnesses, a copious detail of the affections
among the lower animals during the progress of the cholera 10
the Austrian Empire. In continuation of last year's reports,
he mentions similar occurrences as taking place in Moravia
and Silesia. Space, unfortunately, forbids my giving a list of
the various places where particular phenomena were observed ;
so suffice it to say, that during the cholera, or immediately
preceding it, all kinds of birds left their nests and did not
return until it had disappeared. Typhoid dysentery was
prevalent among cattle in some places ; and goats, chamois,
cats, pigs, and even frogs, died in unusual numbers.

Thick, stinking clouds were observed here and there, and
where they settled over the hop-gardens the 'hops looked as
if they had been eaten by insects. These were remarked to
be very scarce. After a heavy thunderstorm in one district,
the malady slackened, and after another it altogether dis-
appeared. Fish and lobsters appeared to suffer severely in
Olmutz ; the former came to the surface of the water, looked
stupefied, and were easily caught. When examined, they had
a glutinous slime over their bodies, and this, along with their
scales, readily came off. When thrown back into the ponds
they endeavoured to come again to the shore. Carp especially
sickened in the fish-ponds, and died. They were noticed to

^Recueil de Med. Vet^r., first series, vol. iii. p. 210.

1 2 2

i8o History of Animal Plagues.

lie with their backs above the surface of the water for four or
five hours, and then, turning on their side, to die. When taken
out of the ponds alive their eyes were said to be sunk in their
heads, and towards their tails they appeared quite rigid.
Circumscribed quiverings, in extent about the size of a shilling,
were observed in various parts of their bodies, and when this
occurred they were certain to die within an hour. Nothing
particular was observed on examining them after death,
except that their blood was darker than usual. The lobsters
and crabs were remarked in open day to creep out of the
water in large numbers, and seek the banks of the rivers. In
one tract of country which was partially submerged they took
refuge in the hedges, in which situations they were easily
captured by boys with baskets. Roes and hares suffered very
much, and were often found dead. In the woods of Dobrauer
alone, one hundred and sixty-five hares were picked up by the
foresters ; many more must have been collected by other people,
and a larger number never found at all. Their lungs and
livers showed signs of disease. Leeches were also reported to
have died in large numbers, and so severe was the mortality
among them that in some places they all perished. Malignant
lung-diseases were prevalent here and there, and rot among
sheep was not unfrequent, even where no cholera was present.
Milch cows gave less milk than usual.

In Bohemia, like events attracted attention. Typhoid lung-
disease was remarkably prevalent, and anthrax was common
and very fatal among cattle, which were also attacked with
dysentery. Those that did not manifest disease, yet looked
dull, had less appetite than in ordinary times ; they shivered
a good deal, and were alternately hot and cold. These
symptoms declined as the cholera disappeared. Goats and
dogs were attacked with choleraic symptoms. Several
instances occurred where dogs perished in the houses in which
the epidemic was present, and with symptoms almost identical
to those exhibited by their owners who were affected. Although
the weather was apparently favourable to animal life, yet even
the untamed denizens of the woods and fields testified to the
presence of some mysterious agency. Hares were also found

Period from A.D. 1830 io A.D. 1835. i8r

dead in this country, and when inspected they were observed
to be emaciated, their flesh was of a blueish-red colom", the
intestines were inflamed, and the bodies rapidly passed mto a
state of putrefaction; So unhealthy did they look that people
were afraid of eating them. The number of cats that perished
was most striking. They were seized with dulness, loss of
appetite, had great thirst, violent vomiting, and a slimy,
watery diarrhoea ; they usually died in convulsions. A post-
mortem examination showed the vessels of the bram full of
blood, the mouth rigidly closed, and full of viscid saliva. The
pleural membrane was nearly dry, with reddish spots ; the
liver full of blood, and friable ; the gall-bladder large and
distended with bile of a green colour ; the intestines inflamed,
and their mucous membrane softened, their contents being a
white slimy fluid. The bladder was contracted and empty,
and the muscles of a dark red ; the rectum was, in nearly all
cases, dilated, and observed to be covered with white
slime.

In Lower Austria there appeared also to reign an unusual
condition of the animal world. House-flies had nearly all gone
away, and entomologists asserted that they had never known
butterflies and moths to be so scarce. In September, horses
were frequently attacked with colic, and suff'ered very much.
An ape which had been in confinement for more than two
years, and during the whole of that time had always remained
in good health, was attacked with a not very severe diarrhoea,
which lasted for three weeks, when it recovered spontaneously,
as the epidemic in mankind began to moderate. Cats died as
numerously here as elsewhere, and from apparently the same
disease. In the whole of the Austrian dominions, the mysterious
way in which the feathered tribes perished caused a great
sensation, especially among the breeders of poultry.

At Pressburg, in Hungary, pigeons and sparrows were
found dead during the cholera, and in many comitats an
epizooty among hens and ducks reigned. In one preserve,
belonging to Count Zichy, a hundred pheasants perished.^
At Grosmeseritsch, in Moravia and Silesia, it was remarked

1 (T.sterreich. Med. Jahrbuch, vol. xvii. p. 442.

l82

History of Animal PlagiLcs.

that all the birds left the country during the cholera. In the
spring of 1831, before the epidemy appeared, in many villages
of Groding, the hens, ducks, and geese were seized with an
unknown disease. They were suddenly attacked, withdrew
themselves from the others, grew dull, did not eat, and the
head drooped, became blue, and soon they died. At Klobank
the epizooty was noticed in the months of February and March,
among hens and pigeons, and more rarely in turkeys. ' The
hens ate with avidity, but when attacked with the disease
they went away, sought out hidden places, and in a quarter of
an hour they were dead ; the pigeons descended from the
roofs to feed on the ground, and fell dead beside their food.
There was nothing found in their bodies, except a slight
inflammation of the stomach and intestines.' In other places
the hens, guinea-fowl, and ducks died with vomiting, profuse
diarrhoea, vertigo, and blueness of the crest. At Kremsir the
pheasants and the partridges died in great numbers from
cholera ; and in the district of Znaym the epizooty was re-
marked among ducks, geese, hens, turkeys, and pigeons, fully
fifteen days before the arrival of the cholera. In the hens and
turkeys the liver and gall-bladder were found greatly enlarged.
At Knowitz, Teseram, Lodwitz, and Marschowitz the
mortality among the hens and geese was noted some time
before the arrival of the cholera in man ; the disease was so
very acute, that death often took place in a few minutes. In
Bohemia similar symptoms were observed among the geese,
hens, and guinea-fowl. In Lower Austria like observations
were made, and it was particularly observed that the sparrows,
magpies, and jackdaws had left the country a few days before
cholera appeared at Vienna. Dr. Schiffner saw many sparrows
seized with convulsions, and fall dead among the trees.i
At Berlin and the surrounding districts, hens and pigeons
frequently died suddenly. The air seemed very still and
quiet, owing to the absence of the sparrows and song-birds.
At Dresden hens and pigeons sought the corners of their pens,
became heavy and dull, drooped their heads, purged masses
of a green gelatinous nature, had convulsions of the extremities.

1 (Esterreich. MW. Jahvbucli, vol. xvii.

Period from A.D. 1830 to A.D. 1835. 183

became cold, and the crests were blue ; the greater part of
their numbers died in twelve hours after being attacked.^ At
Hamburg, Buchheister witnessed a great mortality among
fowls four weeks before the arrival of the human plague. They
refused food, had diarrhoea, and, convulsions setting in, they
perished in twelve or twenty-four hours after showing the
earliest symptoms. So deadly was the disease that many
breeders of geese, in fifteen days, out of sixty of these birds,
would only have four left.2 ' The disease (cholera) attacked
dogs, cats, ducks, hens, and hares ; dead fishes also floated in
great quantities to the shore. It was astonishing how rapidly
putrefaction attacked anything made of flesh— or even flesh
itself. 3

An epizooty among fowls was also seen in the neighbourhood
of Muret, Upper Garonne, France.* In Saxony the diseases
among animals, as described by Prinz, appear to have had some
interesting features. 'The prevailing condition among domestic
animals, due to the morbid atmospheric influences, continued
from the preceding till this year, and maintained itself in all
its virulency until the month of August. It was described as
of an inflammatory bilious character, and was general ; inas-
much as it was manifest even in the simple irritative fevers
accompanying wounds. This condition was most palpable
in the diseases of horses : beginning with a tendency to
biliousness, often merging into bilious diarrhoea, and increas-
ing to inflammation of the liver, with bilious fever ; and,
lastly, ending in remittent typhus fever, with great tendency
to relapse. To this bilious constitution was often added
inflammation of the throat, lungs, and intestines, and also,
from external causes, violent hoof and joint inflammations.
This character was noticeable in the diseases of the other
domestic animals, though less violent and general. Among
dogs here and there, there was malignant mouth disease, and
in one case yellow fever. From the month of August the

''■Radius. Mittheilungen, vol. iv. p. 68.

"^Buchheister. Erfahr. uber p. Cholera in Hamburg, p. 9.

' Radius. Op. cit. p. 22.

^Journal de Med. Veter. Theor. et Piact. vol. vi.

184 History of Animal Plagues.

gastric symptoms in fevers gradually disappeared, and from
October these were nearly all of a catarrhal and rheumatic
type. It is true that very many horses in Dresden and its
neighbourhood were treated for the above-mentioned bilious
and inflammatory fevers, but nowhere in large stables ; and
hence they never assumed the proportions of an epizooty.
On the other hand, in the kingdom of Prussia, and in the
Prussian dominions of Saxony, similar maladies were pre-
valent in the cavalry stables, and were sometimes known as
" horse-influenza," at others as chest disease {brust-seuche).
There was no general disease among cattle in Saxony, except
in two instances, when lung disease broke out in two stables,
but this was clearly attributable to local causes. In other
neighbourhoods of Saxony than that of Dresden, foot- rot,
unaccompanied by fever, appeared among sheep in the
summer and autumn. In the neighbourhood of Leipsic, an
erysipelatous eruption was noticeable on the skins of young
sheep, but these diseases, in all probability, were due more
to wet than to any other circumstance. Among dogs a
rheumatic catarrhal fever was very rife, and kept pace with
the influenza (of man). They were at the commencement
very weary, and so weak that they could scarcely walk ; they
had vomiting, diarrhoea, and fever. To these symptoms were
added signs of pain ; they uttered doleful cries, and showed
uneasiness with more or less lameness. The malady was
nevertheless not dangerous, and only after the disappearance
of the fever were the rheumatic symptoms obstinate.' After
stating that fowls and pigeons suffered from a malady similar
to that already described, and that a like afiection had been
noticed among hares, he adds : ' A mortality among hares,
like that reported from Bohemia, was wide-spread here in the
months of October and November; it appeared to be a
general inflammation of the intestines. Only the young
animals were affected, .and the bad weather had, no doubt,
much to do in inducing it. For the same reason, a remark-
able mortality broke out among house-swallows.'^

1 Prinz. Krankheitsconstitution unter den hausthieren in Saclisen. Kaditts.
Mittheilungen, vol. iv. p. 67.

Period from A.D. 1830 to A.D. 1835. 185

The following statement, referring to this period and this
kingdom, is also made with regard to Germany :

' From the month of March, and during the whole spring
and summer months of 1 831, influenza among horses and dogs
appeared, accompanied sometimes with gastric, sometimes
with typhoid complications. A disease among fowls with
symptoms of great swelling of the head, and vomiting of a
greenish-white fluid, is here noticed. The crop being greatly
distended with fluid, and seeing the inutility of other remedies,
the author, with a bistoury, made an incision in the crop an
inch in length, and evacuated the contents. Those fowls
which were not yet too far gone, rallied and fully recovered
within twenty-four hours after this treatment. In October,
November, and December, 1831, and January and February,
1832, cholera raged among dogs, cats, and rabbits in various
degrees of intensity. Violent bilious vomiting, and dysentery,
also of a bilious character, were prevalent. Both these
affections were accompanied by severe muscular contractions,
and there was loss of sensation and animal heat ; and the
creatures showed by their dull eyes and reeling gait great
weakness. The hair was harsh and dry ; the urine was dark
coloured and ropy ; from the nose flowed a purulent dis-
charge ; the tongue was covered with foul mucus ; and the
hairless parts of the body, as well as the mouth and gums,
were of a striking yellowish hue. There was no fever present.
Ip those cases where the disease was in a milder form, the
animals remained more sensitive to external impressions, and
a favourable result of the treatment was anticipated. But
where the malady assumed a more serious character, the
animal lost all sense and feeling, paid no attention to any-
thing, and was even indifferent to surgical operations. The
heart and pulse could then be scarcely perceived moving. If
they survived twenty-four hours, and the warmth returned,
they were generally saved, but the course of the affection was
often so acute that they died within eight or twelve hours.
More especially was this noticeable when — as in the case of
old dogs, a post-mortem revealed chronic disease of the lungs
or liver. Out of twenty-eight dogs attacked, twenty were

i86

History of Ani77ial Plagzies.

cured. (Cats were also affected ; out of eight, three only
recovered.) My children had sixteen rabbits, of which ten
died within two or three days. I could not notice in them
the symptoms and course of the disease, as my children told
me they were healthy and dead within two or three hours.
In two days the brain and spinal marrow were much softened
and almost fluid ; in the plexus of the brain there was extra-
vasation of blood. The heart was flabby, and its muscular
substance discoloured ; the ventricles were remarkably dilated,
and the presence of a more lymph than blood-like substance
indicated an obstruction to the circulation. A similar con-
dition was noted in the portal system of vessels ; the texture
of the lungs was soft and pale in colour, and the bronchial
tubes were filled with a sanguinolent mucus. The gall-
bladder was empty ; the liver and spleen were gangrenous,
and there were detached inflammatory patches in the small
intestines. On examination of two cats and three rabbits,
I found analogous symptoms ; fowls also showed the same
appearances, with the exception of the intestinal inflamma-
tions, which were absent. It was remarkable that all the
dogs and cats I had to treat were house or pet animals. I
had no cases among watch, butcher's, or sporting dogs. I am
inclined to think, from the disordered condition of the pul-
monary and portal circulations, and the tendency to putridity
of the animal juices, that the disease aff"ecting these creatures
must be similar to the anthrax class of maladies. I do not
believe that this cholera of animals was infectious or con-
tagious ; inasmuch as many of the dogs and cats brought to
my place came in contact with my dog and cats, and yet
these did not suffer.'^

For Courland, we find some very important facts recorded,
having reference to the diseases in other countries, and also as
informing us again of the appearance of the Cattle Plague
beyond its native land. The remarks are to the following effect :

'Sporting friends of the writer notice that there was a
smaller number of hares in the district than in the previous

1 B6hme. Beobacht. iiber die Choler.a der thiere. Radius. Mitlheilungcn,
vol. iv. p. 17'

Period from A.D. 1830 to A.D. 1835. 187

year ; but on the other hand, the partridges, which had some
time before nearly all disappeared, were now far more .plentiful.
. . . The year 1831 was a highly favourable year for cattle,
inasmuch as the entire loss in Courland did not exceed 567
head of horned stock— very different to 1829, when 1504
horses, 5784 cattle, 11,337 sheep, 345 swine, and 150 goats
died from the rinderpest, and from a putrid fever arising from
insufficient and bad fodder. The usual maladies only in two
places assumed an epizootic character in 183 1. In seven dis-
tricts there was no particular affection, and only in three
districts was there anything of a real epizootic malady.
In July, on a private estate, and during the preva-
lence of the east wind, and a thick, yellowish, badly-
smelling fog, there broke out an epizooty among the herds
which were in the most excellent condition. The able
Veterinarian Adolphi describes the disease as a very rapid
inflammatory fever, with inflammation of the heart, which
could only be overcome by very free blood-letting. Seventy
were saved in this way, but the first twenty-four which were
not so energetically treated were lost. On another estate in
the same locality, and about the same time, appeared a
typhoid lung disease among the cattle, attended with exuda-
tions of lymph, and which was so destructive that eighty-two
died. The cause of it most probably was due to the animals
drinking from a pond which had not been cleansed for twenty
years, and the water of which was like a solution of verdigris.
In the third district, in the beginning of June a herd of one
hundred cattle was attacked with splenic apoplexy, and in a
week twenty-five had perished. The only cattle epizooty of any
importance in this year was again the rinderpest {Loserdiirre),
which broke out in these three districts. It was undoubtedly
imported from the district of Dunaburg in the government of
Witepsk, which is only separated by the river Duna from this
neighbourhood, and where it raged with great violence. The
scarcity of mad dogs was noticed in this year. . . . A mad wolf
caused great destruction in a village, in consequence of which
four men and many domestic animals died of hydrophobia.'^

^ Hering. Hamburg. Magazin Tiir die Ausl. Literat. d. heilk. vol. xxvi.

i88

History of Animal Plagues.

In Westphalia, prolapsus of the uterus and vagina, and
inflammation of the former were very frequent among milch
cows, consequent, it was supposed, upon the use of innutritious
fodder. The same occurrences were observed among goats,
and abortions were unusually numerous ; in one instance, in a
herd of two hundred, no fewer than thirty-one calved before
their time. In some places ' rot' was most destructive among
sheep ; so that often there was not one left out of a flock. The
* trembling disease ' was not unfrequent among the animals.
Many horses died in consequence of bad forage. In one dis-
trict, at the beginning of the year, there was a great mortality
among young cattle, but without any well-defined disease being
present ; it was chiefly, if not altogether, due to the scarcity of
herbage on the uplands, and the animals having to be fed in
low marshy situations. Fowls suffered very much in the
district of Hoxter, and Dr. Seller imagined that the malady
which carried off so many, bore a great resemblance to the
cholera.^

An epizooty is again recorded as occurring among the wild
animals in the island of Ceylon, previous to an outbreak of
cholera. ' Spasmodic cholera is an epidemic that has at
different periods made fearful havoc in the island.' In 1832,
it raged fearfully, and ' in the preceding year, a vast number
of elephants and other wild animals had been carried off by
an epidemic which did not affect people. The natives account
for this by a belief that sickness among wild animals and
cattle generally precedes, by a year, any pestilence amongst
the population of the country.' 2 ' In October, 1831, elephants,
wild hogs, and deer died in great numbers in this forest
(Nalandie), and the mortality extended to Minneria, and
other parts of the adjacent district ; but the inhabitants were
not aff"ected. There was neither scarcity of water nor any
apparent cause for this plague amongst the wild animals, but
it is remarkable that in the same month of the following year
(1832), Trinkomalee was visited by that awful scourge, the
spasmodic cholera.'^

1 Sanitatsbericht des Med. Colleg. zu Minister, 1831.

- C. Pridham. Ceylon and its Dependencies, vol. ii. p. 693.

3 Forbes. Eleven Years in Ceylon, vol. i. p. 397> P- 43-

Period from A.D. 1830 to A.D. 1835. 189

There was a great death among rooks in Ireland. The
shores of Lough Neagh were afterwards covered with their
skulls and bones. It is supposed that during a dense fog that
lasted for some days and nights, multitudes of these birds
perished in the waters of the lough and were afterwards
washed ashore.^

A.D. 1832. Asiatic cholera raging in England, Ireland, and
Scotland, and also in France, some parts of Germany, and
Holland. The lower animals yet appear to have suffered
from some mysterious influences in those places where this
terrible epidemic was most fatal. At Paris, in a garden,
twenty-five out of twenty-six rabbits died in the space of fifty
hours.2 In the lakes and ponds of Marais and Marcoussis, at
Baville, at Fontenay-les-Brie, in a great number of ponds and
small streams in the valleys of Dourdan and Arpajon, from
the end of 183 1 to the beginning of April, 1832, M. Clement
Desormes observed a very fatal epizooty among the carp.
Their spinal cord was found in a state of great congestion."

At Breslau, M. Otto thought he had observed the infection
of some animals with cholera from people who were ill of that
disease. In one instance two pigs had eaten the evacuations
of a cholera patient, and died with very similar symptoms ;
they were attempted to be bled ; but this was impossible, as
there was no blood in the vein. In another instance, a dog
had lain in the bed of its master, who was ill from cholera,
and had licked up the matter vomited by him. The second
day after, it was seized with illness, had vomiting, diarrhoea
and convulsions, and died. The autopsy revealed similar
morbid changes to those observed in man."* The feathered
tribes were again affected with peculiar epizootic diseases, and
died in large numbers. Carrere says : ' During the disastrous
progress of cholera in Paris, the village of Choisi-le-Roi, while
perfectly free from the epidemy, was the^scene of an epizootic

' R. Patlerson. Introduction to Zoology, p. 356. Thompson. Natural History
of Ireland, vol. i. p. 320.

" Caffe. Journal Univ. et Hebdom., 1832.
'^Desormes. Gazette Med. de Paris, 1832.
■* Olto. Rust's Magazin, vol. xxxvi. p. 298.

190 History of Animal Plagues.

disease, of which domestic poultry were the only victims. In
the history of many other epidemics we find coincidences of
this description of peculiar diseases affecting the lower animals,
while pestilences were decimating mankind. Some'times
horned cattle, at other times horses, have been especially
attacked ; but there have not been recorded more than two
or three examples of epizootics among birds. Chabert and
Boronio, it is true, have described some diseases of birds,
observed in France and Lombardy ; but the characters of the
affections they describe are totally different from those
observed at Ghoisi.

' The cholera had scarcely appeared at Paris when it was
generally reported that a disease, accompanied with most de-
structive mortality, was raging among the poultry throughout
the commune. Here, as at Paris, the cry of "poisoning " was
loudly made ; all persons who were persuaded that the food
and drink of mankind were mixed with poison, found no
difficulty in convincing themselves that similar villainy was
practised in the poultry-yards. But the mortality soon
reached such a pitch, that this idea was abandoned ; and then
it was generally reported that the cholera was the cause of
the epizooty.

' Wishing to arrive at the source of these rumours, I learned
that since the 3rd of April a vast number of fowls had
perished in several houses situated in different quarters of the
hamlet. During the first days of the disease, the number of
deaths had been very considerable, after which period the
birds were killed by the owners on the occurrence of the first
symptoms. In one fowl-yard, of eighty attacked, one or two
alone recovered. Many remedies, amongst others, bleeding
under the wings, had been in vain resorted to. A considerable
quantity of the diseased fowl had been eaten by the inhabitants
without any bad effect.

'The causes of this maladyappear to me altogether unknown,
and I saw no reason for supposing it to be contagious.
Nevertheless, when a single death occurred in a fowl-yard, the
mortality only ceased when it had no more victims to destroy.
The most cleanly poultry-feeders suffered as severely as the

Period from A.D. 1830 to A.D. 1835. 191

most filthy. The nature of their food had no influence on
the disease. The fowls at large in the streets of Choisi were
attacked with equal severity with those perpetually confined,
or occupied in incubation. Rabbits, geese, and ducks, however,
lived with impunity in the same yards where the hens were
universally perishing, and three turkeys only were affected.

' The disease, generally speaking, commenced in the morn-
ing. The hens \Yere noticed to be dull and weak, their wings
drooping, and their crops distended with undigested food. In
a few cases the disease commenced during the day, and lasted
four-and-twenty hours. The respiration was short and
hurried, the motions of the heart accelerated, and diminished
in force in proportion to their increase of velocity. In almost
every instance there had been numerous whitish liquid
dejections. The gullet was distended with thready mucus,
which escaped from the beak. The combs were of a livid-red
colour, and the tint deepened to a violet as death drew near.
After the disease had lasted from two to five hours, con-
vulsions usually finished the sufferings of the animal, and
death was rapid in proportion to the quantity of the evacua-
tions. In many cases I have learned that the coldness of the
sick birds was very remarkable. A few recoveries were
noticed towards the termination of the epizootic. So far as I
can discover, about five hundred fowls died of the disease, or
were killed in consequence of the development of its symptoms.
After death the colour of the skin was the same as in fowls
strangled without being bled. The bodies were warm for at
least three hours, and the cadaveric rigidity was very remark-
able. I have taken much pains in seeking for any pathological
alterations which might explain the cause of the disease, but
my researches were quite in vain. The brain was white, and
free from congestion. The heart was bloodless, and of its
usual consistence. The aorta contained little fluid blood.
The lungs were rosy and crepitating. The mucous membrane
of the oesophagus frequently showed little papilla. The crop
always contained food ; the gizzard was strongly contracted ;
the intestine presented occasional patches of red, especially in
the situations where little parcels of worms were found. The

192

History of Animal Plagues.

liver was gorged with black and tarry blood ; the gall-bladder
distended with thick green bile. This epizooty is quite
different from the 'maladie charbonneuse ' of Chabert, and
from that described by Boronio. Neither has it any analogy
to the " pip," for the tongue was always in a natural state.' ^

The accomplished veterinarian, Grognier, describes a similar
disease among the poultry in the department of Ain, Lyons.
' The disease broke out at Monthuel, and after lasting about
twenty days, with more or less gravity, it disappeared on my
arrival ; at least, I could not discover any trace of it. From
what I was able to gather in this time, it had destroyed- from
two hundred and fifty to three hundred fowls at Monthuel. I
was informed that it was at Beligneux, a commune about two
short leagues from this town, and I therefore went there the
next day and saw the disease. These are its symptoms : the
sick fowl lost its vivacity, and rocked itself ; it could easily
be caught ; refused its food ; kept near the water-trough and
drank much ; sought the sun's rays for warmth, and only left
them to seek for drink. If many were sick they all collected
and huddled themselves into groups, the one fowl resting on
the other ; they drooped their wings, and shook them in a
convulsive manner. Sometimes they wheeled round, as if
attacked by vertigo ; at last they remained unmovable, closed
their eyes as if going to sleep, fell down and died. Towards
their last moments their crests were wasted, assumed a violet
tint interspersed with black stains, and became cold. Some
fowls rejected by the beak and the anus a mucous matter of a
yellowish-white colour. Fowls have been observed to die at
two or three o'clock in the day, which, in the morning, had
eaten, crowed, and laid eggs. When the sick birds lived
beyond twenty-four hours, there were many chances in
their favour as to recovery. A necropsy showed, in addition
to the withered crest with its parti-coloured violet and black
hue, blue or black patches on the skin. The mouth was
filled with whitish mucosities, and sometimes at its posterior
part showed traces of inflammation, or some white pimples
about the size of a pin's head, about there and on the mucous
J Carrcre. Journal Hebdomadaiie. Lancet, July 7, 1832.

Pe7'iod from A.D. 1830 to A.D. 1835. 193

membrane of the oesophagus and the crop, which was very-
full. The mucous membrane of the intestines was thickened
and sh"ghtly inflamed. The digestive canalj and particularly
the two caecums, contained a thick mucosity of a yellowish-
white tinge, but without a bad odour. The gizzard was hai'd
and of a greenish-yellow colour. The mesentery and the
omentum were injected, arborized, or streaked like marble,
and had a yellow tint. The fat was always yellow, as in old
fowls. There was nothing particular to be noted in the
oviducts. The liver was double its natural size, and black, as
if half roasted. The gall-bladder was dilated, and contained
dark-coloured bile. The whole of the blood was black, arterial
as well as venous. The organs in the thorax were in a natural
state, and there was no sign of putrefaction twenty-four hours
after death. The disease had begun at Beligneux, a little
before it was seen at Montheul, and it had extended about the
same time in the neighbouring communes, such as Bressoles,
Saint Christophe, and Dagneux. It was remarked that the
best-maintained hen-houses were no more spared than the
others, and those which drank out of pools or ponds suffered
no more than they which had clear limpid water to drink. The
quality of the aliment had not, apparently, any influence in
producing it, and its cause remains a mystery. There is
nothing to prove its contagious properties. ... I am inclined
to consider as identical with the epizootics of Beligneux and
De Choisy, the affection I observed at St. Georges-le-Renein,
in the district of Villefranche. It had reigned there for about
a month without exciting much uneasiness, when I arrived on
the loth of the current month (June?) ; it had been recognised
by Dr. Volpre and Veterinary Surgeon Gayot. We have
noted the following symptoms : the walk unsteady ; little
resistance shown when attempted to be caught ; the crest
pendant and shrivelled ; the eyes dull ; the mucous mem-
branes white and dotted with granulations; the belly hot,
distended, and fluctuating, so that it was easy to recognise
ascites. The sick fowl walked slowly. We have seen hens
which had been ill for three weeks, and which during that
time either had not laid any eggs, or had produced them

13

194

History of Animal Plagues.

without shells. Diarrhoea was persistent, and the dejections
had the appearance of lime-water. The post-mortem appear-
ances were the fellowing : the skin was white and the muscles
wasted ; the mucous membrane of the mouth and the
cEsophagus covered with miliary granulations ; the crop was
nearly always empty ; the abdominal muscles and the
peritoneum were livid or violet-coloured. When the abdomen
was opened, there escaped a large quantity of thick viscid fluid
of a yellowish hue. In one fowl at least a pint was calculated
to have been present in the abdomen. The intestines were
full of a greyish or black foetid mucus, but there were no
traces of inflammation, nothing save some miliary granula-
tions ; the gizzard presented no particular alterations, and the
liver was normal. The poultry-yards were in general damp
and badly kept. . . . M. Robert, physician at Marseilles, has
written to Dr. Gaultier of Lyons, under date of the 12th of
April, informing him that there was an epizooty among
fowls on the borders of the Mediterranean, which was
characterized by diarrhoea, and the vomiting of glairy matter,
accompanied by cramps and soon terminating in death. . . .
The political journals have lately told us, that, in some
villages in the neighbourhood of Burgos in Spain, there
reigned a mortality among poultry, and that in order to
preserve the healthy from this contagion, they have found no
better means than to kill all the diseased or suspected.' ^ In
many places in Lower Brittany nearly the whole of the
poultry died.2 Mayer witnessed a disease at St. Petersburg
similar to that seen among the fowls at Choisy, while at the
same time sporadic cases of cholera were appearing in
mankind ; and in the province of Mantua, according to Dr.
Bignani, an extraordinary quantity of young poultry died.
Af^er death the liver was found acutely inflamed, and to this
was attributed the symptoms observed during life ; young
ducks perished in great numbers.'^

In April, 1832, M. Guyon observed a great mortality

1 Grognier. Recueil de Med. Vet^r. prat. vol. ix. p. 246.

2 Maout. Experiences sur le Miasme du Cholera, p. 17.
"CEstcrreich. Med. Jahrbuch, vol. xi. p. 20.

Period from A.D. 1830 to A.D. 1835. ^95

amongst poultry at No. 264, Rue Saint Jacques, Paris. They
died from a disease which, according to his description of the
symptoms and lesions, is designated as the cholera of fowls ^ —
a malady particularly well-known to French veterinary
surgeons.

In France, an anthrax fever {fi^vre charbonneuse) caused much
havoc among the cattle in the department of Tarn.^ Nothing
very worthy of note was recorded for Central Europe. In
Posen the crops, especially the early seeds, were a month
behind their time. In May and June the weather was very
unfavourable to vegetation, though it greatly injured the
vermin inimical to agriculture. In June the crops looked so
bad that great apprehensions were entertained for the harvest,
and the cold and rains of July and August much retarded the
growth of the hay and rye. The field and garden fruits were
not damaged by the weather, but appeared to be rather
benefited by it, as the trees were long and full in bloom, and
bore much fruit. The vines did not blossom before the end of
June, although their usual time to do so is in the beginning
of that month, and all flowers were a month later than in
ordinary seasons. Game was plentiful, and domestic fowls
were thriving. The may-bug appeared in immense numbers
in May, and in Hesse, invasions of caterpillars were frequent,
while the ' Bombyx processionea ' covered the pine forests.
The Cattle Plague was raging. Madness was rather common
among dogs, and hydrophobia in mankind. Seventeen persons
died from this disease in the one province, and the same
malady was extremely rife among cattle. Sheep-pox could
not be got rid of in the province, so long as the yearly inocu-
lation of the lambs with cultivated lymph was neglected. The
disease occurred at all times and in all districts, and caused
very great damage among the flocks. In the second quarter
of the year rot, complicated with dropsy, was prevalent among
cattle and sheep ; their lungs and livers were found to be
diseased, and contained cysts with numerous hydatids in
them. This disease was in some localities supposed to be

r

^ Recueil de Med. V^ter. fifth series, vol. iii. p. 210.

^ Fradal. Observations sur la Maladie regnante des Bestiaux. Castres, 1832.

13—2

196 History of Animal Plagues.

caused by the bad forage, and damp and rainy weather ; but
in other locaHties the flocks best attended to perished ; so
that it appeared as if some miasma was diffused in the
atmosphere. The devastation was enormous, whole flocks
being swept away. In some instances neither dropsy nor
hydatids were present ; but a peculiar friability of the paren-
chyma of the internal organs, especially of the liver and heart,
and ulcers in the intestines, were frequently noticed. The
animals which showed an inclination to eat until shortly before
death, consumed the black earth.^ In Pomerania a similar
atmospheric constitution was observed, and caterpillars did
great damage. Cholera was present in mankind. Catarrh
and rheumatism, glanders and mange, were diseases more than
ordinarily noticed among horses. Among sheep, foot disease,
small-pox, and dysentery were prevalent, but typhoid lung
affections were most destructive. Veterinary Surgeon Tegge
reported the breaking out of influenza among horses. The
symptoms were : refusal of food ; great thirst ; dulness and
fever ; pulse quick, but small ; heart-beats very perceptible ;
the respiration quickened ; an oppressive cough ; in some
cases colicky pains ; diarrhoea and borborygmi. Where this
was not present the faeces were in small round pellets and
covered with mucus. Not unfrequently the lungs were impli-
cated, and then the animals did not lie down, but stood away
from the manger with drooping heads and widely separated
fore-legs. They coughed or groaned on the slightest move-
ment, and more especially when they tried to drink. Their
walk was languid and tottering. In the majority of those
affected the functions of the liver were deranged ; the tongue
was covered with a dirty yellow mucus ; the mouth contained
much ropy saliva, and its lining membrane was pale ; the
temperature of the body was increased, and the breath foul-
smelling. All these symptoms indicated an affection of the
liver ; a fact which was substantiated on a post-mortem
examination, when that organ was found considerably en-
laro-ed and friable. It was named a ' typhoid lung-and-liver
inflammation,' or influenza. The causes were surmised to be

^ Sanitatsbericht die Provinz Posen, 1832.

Period from A.D. 1830 to A.D. 1835. 197

bad hay, and the wet and cold weather of the summer and
autumn. Raphania in pigs was witnessed by Dr. Helm :
* Twelve pigs of various ages were fed with rye which con-
tained much ergot. A few hours afterwards convulsions set
-in, with foaming at the mouth ; the animals grunted and
groaned most piteously ; became paralyzed in the hinder
extremities, and expressed their agony in the strangest con-
tortions. At first I presumed the disease arose from the bite
of a mad dog, but on opening the first animal that died I dis-
covered the nature of the malady, by finding in the stomach
much ergoted rye. The jaws were so tightly closed, that with
great difficulty a purge of white hellebore was introduced, and
this was followed by a dose of vinegar and buttermilk, and
repeated douches of very cold water. By these means seven
of the animals were saved. The other five died in the course
of a few days.'^ In Westphalia contagious and eruptive
diseases were frequent among dogs. In several horses in one
locality diabetes followed the giving them musty hay and oats.
Glanders was prevalent among horses, as well as typhus or
nervous fever ; pneumonia, and gastric fever were epizootic.
Small-pox {blatterii) showed itself among pigs.
Rot among sheep caused much loss.^

In the Grand Duchy of the Lower Rhine, the early and
warm spring caused the horses to shed their coats prematurely,
and cold setting in, they suffered much from the changeable
weather which followed.

Abortion and retention of the placenta were remarkably
common among cattle, and puerperal fever was not infre-
quent. The weather was bad for forage, and horses, besides
catarrhal and rheumatic affections, had diabetes and derange-
ments of the digestive organs. Ha^maturia was enzootic
among those cattle which were pastured in the woods and
swamps in the month of June. The ' milzbrand ' was also
rather prevalent."'

In Saxony, rabies was unusually common among dogs, and

1 Provinzial-Sanitiitsbericht von Pommem, 1832.
- Sanitatsbericht des Med. Colleg. zu Miinster, 1832.
^ Generalbericht des Rheinischen Med. Colleg., 1832.

198

History of Animal Plagues.

many cattle and men were bitten, but there were no deaths
among them. Geese were seized with a deadly disease, sup-
posed to be caused by flies getting into their ears. These
insects were swarming about for several days, just as they are
in foreign countries before or at the outbreak of cholera-
Horses in one district had inflammation of the liver, with
secondary inflammation of the brain.

In Lombardy, pneumonia, glossanthrax, and inflammatory
fever or anthrax were epizootic among cattle. In Mantua, in
the month of August, many hens and ducks died from an
acute inflammation of the liver.

In the spring of 1832 there were various rumours of a
strange epizooty having shown itself among the domestic
animals in Britain, but especially in Scotland, where the
cholera was very severe in the human species. It appears to
have differed in its symptoms and in its more rapidly fatal
terminations, from the ' influenza ' so-called, and even the un-
learned could distinguish this peculiarity. ' In the thriving
village of Denny (Stirling) a disease has m.ade its appearance
among the horses, which has already proved distressingly
fatal. The first case occurred on Monday, and before evening
several valuable animals had become affected. We have not
heard exactly how the malady operates ; but after .severe
suffering, the poor horses generally die in about five hours.
The farriers say that the cause of death is violent inflamma-
tion of the bowels; while the less learned declare it to be
hoi'se cholera. In all, there have been seven cases and five
deaths.'^ Professor Dick, of Edinburgh, has described some
extremely interesting cases of a class which, he informs us,
was numerous. In alluding to the symptoms of cholera in
man, he says : ' Now I have stated that herbivorous animals
are sometimes cut off in a similar manner. It is no unusual
thing for a horse to be brought to a veterinary surgeon in the
most intense agony. He has, perhaps, been seized within
half an hour or an hour ; he can scarcely be kept upon his
legs a moment ; he tosses himself down wherever he is for a
few seconds allowed to stand ; knocks his head against the

' Caledonian Mercury. Veterinarian, vol. v. p. 218, 1832.

Period from A.D. 1830 to A.D. 1835. 199

wall or whatever comes in his way, as if, from the intensity of
the agony under which he then suffers, he cared not for any
other injury ; a cold sweat runs from every pore ; his eye is
fixed, sunk, and glassy ; his limbs are convulsed ; he sobs, or
rather snorts ; and a few more convulsive spasms terminate
his existence. In others the progress is not so rapid ; perhaps
the disease, instead of lasting only two or three hours, may,
although rarely, continue during as many days. ... On
examining a severe case of this kind, it is found that the
pulse is perhaps raised to 80, 90, or above lOO ; it is small
and thready, and scarcely to be distinguished in the arteries,
while at the heart it may sometimes be distinctly felt. The
mouth is generally colder than natural— either dry, with white,
furred tongue, or filled with a frothy mucus. But there is
little time to spare in examination : the animal throws himself
to the ground, and continues to toss about, or frequently
rising and lying down again, until relieved in some way or
another. If the extremities are felt, they are cold to the
touch, and the tips of the ears are not less so ; but the ex-
tremities are not only cold, but they have become remarkably
fine or shrunk. Convulsive spasms soon take place, and he
dies. On examination after death, we find there is a great
determination of blood to the deeper-seated parts ; they are
highly inflamed, and the vessels injected with blood. These
symptoms and appearances vary, however, according to the
rapidity of the disease. The epizootic which at present
rages has a somewhat curious character. It has been much
less destructive than is generally the case with diseases of the
bowels, while, at the same time, it presents various modifica-
tions. The most conspicuous, and that to which I would
more especially direct attention, is diarrhoea, which is now
very prevalent. This is the more remarkable, because that
complaint in horses is extremely rare.'

The post-mortem appearances of an animal that had been
opened immediately after death were as follows : ' The abdo-
minal viscera presented little appearance of disease \ the
stomach was about two-thirds filled with food, but offered
no particular morbid appearance ; the mesenteric veins were

200

History of Ajtimal Plagues.

turgid with black blood ; the villous coat of the colon had an
inflamed appearance, but not well marked; the small intes-
tmes contained a yellowish-like mucous fluid, while the large
mtestmes had within them a dark-blue, clay-like, thin fluid,
with a most disagreeable odour. The bladder was contracted
and empty ; the lungs were pale, and rather of a healthy ap-
pearance, and the ventricles and auricles of the heart were
empty of blood. The brain was not examined.'

Cows were also very subject to attacks of diarrhoea, and
many died. Coagulated lymph formed a great portion of
what was discharged. In some, purging first appeared ; in
others, cramps of the legs. ' What the cause or causes are, I
am unable to explain ; but if, in addition to what I have
already offered, as indicating a long continuance of a peculiar
atmospherical influence, we consider the general state of the
weather and atmosphere for these two seasons past, the extra-
ordinary brilliancy and frequency of the aurora borealis, and
also the following facts : that during the prevalence of the
disease of the mucous membrane of the respiratory organs in
the horse it was observed by Mr. Stevenson, of Redside, near
North Berwick, whose horses were almost all affected, that
(as he states in a letter to me, dated 6th May, 1831) "it was a
curious fact, that before the thunder upon Tuesday the black
mare's and brown horse's (two which died) pulses rose above
100, but after the storm their pulses again fell as low as 70 ;
all the rest of their pulses (the horses which were unwell) were
affected in the same manner." ... I may also add that some
time prior to the commencement of the disease at Mussel-
burgh the sea had for several days been observed to be highly
phosphorescent, or "on fire," as the natives of the place
emphatically expressed it ; all of which seemed to prove a
peculiar state of the atmosphere.' ^

In the public papers the following strange paragraph was
circulated : ' Disease amongst Race-horses. — For some time
past a disease of an inflammatory, and apparently also of a
contagious nature, has shown itself amongst all descriptions
of horses. The training stables of Mr. Scott, at Malton, York-

^ W. Dick. The Veterinarian, vol. vi, p. 207.

Period from A.D. 1830 to A.D. 1835. 201

shire, have been particularly unfortunate. Beaufort, a St.
Leger horse, belonging to the Hon. E. Petre, died about a
"week ago. George Walker, Esq., whose horses are trained
by Scott, has lost three. Mr. Bower has also lost a colt, by
Figaro, out of Chancellor's dam ; the value of these five horses
cannot be estimated at less than Aooo. Mr. Walker has
also lost seven valuable cart-horses by this strange disorder.
In all the fatal cases death has ensued within forty-eight
hours ; and on opening the bodies a quantity of water has
been found about the heart. If the complaint should reach
Newmarket, the mischief will probably be very extensive, as
there are now five or six hundred horses in training there,
besides brood mares, yearlings, foals, etc' To this the editor
of the ' Veterinarian ' adds : ' There has been for some months
past an unusual mortality among horses, in almost every part
of the kingdom, although we cannot say that many cases
bearing any resemblance to these have fallen under our
notice. The epidemics which occasionally prevail, so different
in different years and different localities, form a very impor-
tant and utterly neglected subject of inquiry. . . . Affections
of the mucous membrane of the intestinal canal have lately
been almost unprecedentedly frequent and fatal among dogs ;
and there has been a peculiarity in the character and copious-
ness of the bloody discharge, and rapid prostration of strength,
and speedy death, to which our experience supplies us with
no parallel.'! That cattle were not exempt from a like morbid
influence the following communication from Mr. Mayer, of
Newcastle-under-Lyne, will testify : ' During the months of
August, September, and October last year, the English
cholera prevailed amongst human beings, as an epidemic, to
a greater extent, and with a greater fatality, than ever was
known ; at the same time horses and cattle, and particularly
the latter, were attacked with bowel affections, to a degree I
had never before witnessed ; so that I consider (so far as
atmospheric influence goes) we have been rather severely
scourged with cholera ; but Heaven forbid that the whole
island should be visited with the Asiatic cholera, with all the

The Veterinarian, vol. v. p. 222,

202

History of Animal Plagues.

malignant features that have hitherto marked its progress
I he first extreme cases which were brought under my notice
occurred at a lay in Cheshire, where ten or twelve head of
cattle had already died, and three or four others were con-
sidered hopeless. There were several other slighter cases, in
which the animals recovered when a proper treatment was
adopted, and the diseased cattle were separated from the

healthy ones The disease was ushered in by a dull

anxious appearance, and the eyelids and dewlaps were of a
yellow tinge ; in dairy cows there was a total suspension of
the secretion of milk ; a slight muco-purulent discharge from
the nostrils was observed ; the appetite was indifferent, bowels
costive the dung of a dark colour, having portions of blood
diffused through it ; but the urine was not much affectpd.
1 he pulse, for the first twenty-four or forty hours, when the
disease came on more gradually, was not much affected ; but
afterwards it became frequent, small, and hard, beating at
the rate of 70 or 80 pulsations per minute. In extreme
cases, the febrile action set in from the first, accompanied with
violent diarrhoea and tenesmus ; the fsecal discharge being
mtolerably offensive, and consisting of a thin, watery, dirty
green-coloured fluid, full of shreds of coagulable lymph and
blood, with, comparatively speaking, no portion of fsces
along with it. The extremities were alternately hot and
cold ; the surface of the nose sometimes dry, at others having
a dew upon it; occasionally during the cold fit the eyes would
become sunk in their orbits, the features collapsed, the nose,
mner parts of the lips, and tongue, of a deadly pallidness,
which would be followed up by reaction, and a consequent
hot fit again. The bowels were affected, in some of the
extreme cases with colicky pains ; and in every case there
was obstinate constipation and obstruction in the second and
third stomachs. If relief was not afforded, the disease ter-
minated fatally on the third or fourth day. The causes
appeared to be great atmospheric changes, accompanied with
much moisture operating upon a frame already predisposed
by living on bad fodder. The morbid appearances which
presented themselves after death were violent inflammation

Period from A.D. 1830 to A.D. 1835. 203

of the mucous membrane of the stomach and bowels, parti-
cularly that portion lining the colon and rectum ; presenting,
in some cases, quite a dark-crimson hue. The second and
third stomachs, particularly the manyplus, were quite blocked
up with vegetable matter, consolidated and hardened to such
a degree as to require the force of a hatchet to cut it in two ;
in fact, it was as dry and hard as if baked in an oven. The
gall-bladder was completely gorged with bile.'^

Glanders was epizootic amongst horses in Holland.^
An epizooty among cats at Aleppo. The Rev. Vere Monro,
during his residence in that city in 1833, when describing a
large establishment founded there for the reception of these
creatures, remarks: 'They had amounted to five hundred,
but the plague in the previous year had reduced their number
to two hundred. '3

A.D. 1833. Epidemic influenza was again prevalent in
Europe, having travelled from east to west. 'The disease
was ushered into London during the prevalence of a bleak
wind and a cold^ vernal atmosphere succeeding to a long,
warm, moist winter. Storms of hail, snow, sleet, thunder, and
rain, from dark fragments of clouds, were alternated only by
currents of gelid air and harsh squalls from the north and
north-east. Under these coarse rude flaws of heaven, the
pulmonary organs, so susceptible of atmospheric changes, were
excited and parched or moistened and depressed, and the
whole surface of the skin must have suffered universally in its
functions.'* In London, and while the human species was
suffering from influenza, horses were affected with the same
disease. For a short time those kept in the low districts
suffered most, whilst those in the upper and north-west
divisions escaped. A few weeks afterwards there was not a
stable in Marylebone in which the malady did not appear,
and Westminster was exempt from disease. With regard to
Marylebone, Mr. Youatt observes : ' I have known it to be

' T. Mayer, The Veterinarian, vol. v. p. i85'

- Kirchner. Magazin fur Thierlieilkunde, 1865. Vcith. Handbucli der Veler-
inarkunde. ^ A Summer Ramble in Syria. London, 1835, vol. ii. p. 235.

* London Medical Gazette, vol. xii.

204 History of Animal Plagzies.

di J i!7 ^ ^^'^ P"'' in 'pertain mews

ZrnU ^^^"/'^'f^ no vestige of disease elsewhere. I

recollect, that m one of our barracks, the majority of the

cTrV\Tu^" °' ^'^^ ^^^^ ^"^^k^d by epidemic
catarrh, while there was not a sick horse on the other side.
These prevalences and these exceptions " are altogether un-
accountable. The stables and the stable management have
been most carefully inquired into in the infected and healthy
districts, and no satisfactory difference could be ascertained
One very important fact, however, has been established'
namely, that the probability of the disease seemed to be in a
^nfold ratio with the number of horses inhabiting a stable.
I wo or three shut up in a comparatively close stable would
escape. Out of thirty distributed through ten or fifteen little
stables, not one would be affected ; but in a stable containing
ten or twelve, although proportionally larger and more
ventilated, the disease would assuredly appear ; and, if it does
enter one of the largest stables, almost every horse will
be affected.'! The attacks of this malady appear to have
been remarkably sudden. Mr. Wilkinson had thirty-six cases
m one day, and another practitioner had nearly twice that
number in twenty-four hours.

The epizooty appears to have been also very common
throughout England. From Rochdale, for instance, Mr.
Hayes writes: 'From October, 1832, to March, 1833, there
have been numerous cases in this district of catarrhal fever,
joined with inflammation of the lungs, liver, trachea, larynx,'
and pharynx, and the mucous lining membrane of the bowels ;
frequently with all the symptoms of malignant catarrh, and
even these in an aggravated form. In some cases there was
excessive diarrhoea: the faeces were black, liquid, mucous, and
bloody, exceedingly foetid, and accompanied by such extreme
debility that the animal could not move without falling ; there
was quick pulse, injected nose, mouth and gums as red and
dry as possible, and resembling a piece of lean raw beef In
some there was extensive anasarca ; in others, phlegmonous

' The Veterinarian, 1833, p. 117.

Period from A.D. 1830 to A.D. 1835. 205

tumours in different parts of the body ; in others, again, there
were spasmodic jerkings, and lameness in the legs, shoulders,
and hips. On the fourth day they generally began to bleed
at the nose, a very dark-coloured thin blood, which continued
for four or five days, or until the bowels became set ; in some,
for about the first two days, the bowels were constipated ; the
pellets of dung came enveloped in a thin tissue of the mucous
lining of the bowels : this also came in great quantities, whether
the faeces were hard or pultaceous. There was total loss of
appetite for five or six days ; the temperature of the extremi-
ties was irregular, sometimes hot and sometimes cold, and
the others warm, and next day it would be just the contrary.
. , . Out of one hundred and twenty-six extreme cases, I
have only lost four. ... I attribute the prevalence of this
disease to an almost stagnant state of the atmosphere, together
with what little winds we have had being almost exclusively
from the east, or north-east, of a most foggy, cold, damp
kind, and for which these seasons have been so remark-
able. . . . Such, indeed, has been the prevalency and de-
structiveness of the complaint in this district, that very few
establishments have been able to continue their works, and
this without regard to close, small, large, crowded, ventilated
or unventilated stables or situations; but perhaps the low
damp stables, near large waters, felt it most. It has been
the same in the country as in the towns, pervading the whole
country round for many miles, and in a very aggravated form
such as I have seldom met with ; and also affecting cows —
chiefly those that gave milk — in a similar manner.' 1

At the Veterinary School near Paris, horses recovering
from various maladies were suddenly affected with anofexia,
the head heavy and hot, the conjunctivae red and tearful, dry
cough, and great debility. Many horses previously in good
health became affected when brought into the neighbourhood
of the sick. ' In the course of the months of May and June
last, the time when the disease called grippe appeared in the
human species over the whole of France, a large portion of
the horses convalescent from internal diseases or suffering

1 The Veterinarian, 1833, p. 192,

2o6 History of Animal Plagues.

from surgical complai'nts m the College Hospital, have been
attacked with a malady which had the greatest analogy to
the grippe. The loss of appetite, the heaviness and heat of
the head, the prostration, the general debility, the heat and
dryness of the mouth, the redness of the conjunctival and
pituitary membranes, announce the commencement of the
disease; at a later period, in addition to these primary
symptoms, some of which are persistent and become
aggravated, are evinced difficulty in deglutition ; an abundant
and viscous salivation ; a cough unfrequent and dry at first,
but afterwards becoming soft and constant, with discharge
from the nostrils. In very many cases, it is observed that the
great portion of the small quantity of hay, barley or water
given them, and which they attempt to swallow, is returned
by the nostrils. The slightest compression of the larynx
produced the greatest pain, and caused a fit of coughing of
more or less long duration, and which appeared to be most
harassing to the animal. The pulse, nearly always normal
with some so affected, quick with the majority, was never
strong, and in those which suffered from the disease in the
most intense form it was full and hurried. The sick animals
did not lie down, but standing seemed to be a most uneasy
position for them, as every instant they kept resting
and moving their limbs alternately. This malady, which
affected nine horses at one time, was continued and did not
last beyond from eight to twelve days. Its termination has
always been a fortunate one. The causes of this attack are
unknown to us ; some lame horses, but otherwise in good
health, have been seized with it all at once when put beside
horses which were affected ; nevertheless, nothing authorizes
us in supposing that it bears a contagious character.'^

In Britain the epizootic diseases of the past three years are
thus noticed : ' For these three years past the influence of the
atmosphere, under the various changes it has exhibited, has
been peculiarly marked in its effects upon the bodies of
animals, especially in the northern metropolis, and surround-

' Compte Rendu de I'Ecole Vctcr. d'Alfort. Recueil dc Med. Vetdr. vol. x.
p. 520.

Period from A.D. 1830 to A.D. 1835. 207

ing country. First, in producing the fatal and destructive
bronchitis which so generally prevailed ; next, in derange-
ment of the bowels analogous to cholera ; and lastly, in three
other forms of disease: First, sore throat, terminating in
strangles, in which the disease appeared in varied forms, the
abscesses being found in all parts of the body, and in some
proving fatal by the tumours interfering with the functions of
organs essential to life (the lungs and abdominal viscera) ; and
in others proving fatal by the abscesses bursting into the
chest or abdomen, and setting up a destructive irritation.
Secondly : Erythematous disease, in which sudden eruptions
have taken place generally over the whole body, attended with
low febrile action, weakness, and slight soreness of the throat,
but otherwise with little disturbance of the respiratory organs ;
slight derangement of the abdominal viscera, but no apparent
derangement of the sensorium : the eruptions on the skin, in
some cases, disappearing as suddenly as they came, but
generally returning a few times before they entirely left the
animal ; in other cases, proceeding at once to a slight effusion
from the surface of the tumours, followed by a desquamation
of hair, and then going quite off ; while in others a permanent
alteration of the skin has been followed by a deposit of a
small quantity of calcareous-like matter in it, forming little
tumours. The animal during the disease showed considerable
weakness, attended with loss of flesh and condition ; being
unable to stand free blood-letting, and, from the absence of
the buffy coat on the blood in the early stage of the disease,

apparently not requiring it Thirdly, the frequent

occurrence of tetanus.'^

In Courland no diseases of an epizootic character appeared
among cattle. The milzbrand broke out on two estates, but
it was so quickly stamped out that only thirty-four horses, six
sheep, and two cows became victims.^ In Pomerania catarrh
was very prevalent among horses, and often lapsed into disease
of the lungs ; so general and so virulent did it become that it
was thought to be infectious. Angina and glanders were also

* The Veterinarian, vol. vi. p. 484.

^Possart, Die Russischen Ostseeprovinzen, vol. i. p. 201.

208

History of AniinaL Plagues.

unusually rife. Mange raged in several districts, and at the
same time itch affected the people in these places. Haematuria
and typhoid lung disease, as well as the ' foot-and-mouth '
complaint, occurred among cattle. Abortions were very
common, and were supposed to be occasioned by bad forage.
Sheep-pox raged in some districts.^

In Brandenburg the prevailing diseases were of a nervous
character. Milzbrand was rather deadly among horses and
cattle. In one instance it was thought to be due to the over-
flowing of the Oder, which, on the disappearance of the waters,
left a large quantity of putrefying vegetable matter and slime-
covered herbage on which the animals had to feed, as well as
foul water for them to drink : these causes were all intensified
by the great heat of the summer and autumn. In many
neighbourhoods — especially the low-lying ones — contagious
pleuro-pneumonia prevailed during the winter months of 1833.
Variola ovina reigned in seven districts all the year through.
Rabies was very frequent among dogs, but no cause could be
assigned for its appearance. Aphthous foot disease was
present among cattle, and so wide-spread and virulent was it at
Frankfort that the police regulations had to be enforced, but
without avail, as it raged over the whole country, and but few
herds escaped. It began in July and ended in November,
travelling from east to west. If it attacked one animal it soon
spread over the whole herd, and calves were usually seized
with it on the third or fourth day after birth. Occasionally it
was observed that, in two localities of a precisely identical cha-
racter, one would be attacked and another not — that where
favoured herds were strictly secluded they often escaped, while
the neglected ones suffered severely, and sometimes the oppo-
site result took place. The causes were supposed to be long-
continued heat and drought, succeeded by a sudden change to
cold rainy weather, whereby the pastures were always wet ;
but more stress was laid on some peculiar and indescribable
condition of ^the atmosphere, for animals kept in stables and
not exposed to the cold and wet had the disease as generall}'
and severely among them as those always exposed. Earlier,

^ Sanitatsbericht des Med. Colleg. von Pommern, 1833.

Period from A.D. 1830 to A.D. 1835. 209

and still more virulent than among cattle, raged the foot-and-
mouth disease among swine ; so that in those places where
the cattle became afifected, it was believed that the infection
had been introduced by swine driven from other localities
among them, though this is not very probable. Pigs suffered
from anthrax. Hsematuria was very fatal among cattle, death
taking place on the second or third day. On examination
the kidneys were found inflamed, and their external surface
black ; the stomach and intestines were also inflamed ; the
muscles were of a blueish colour, the peripheral bloodvessels
full of blood, but the large vessels and the heart empty. The
blood itself was thin and of a bad colour. The disease
was due apparently to low, damp meadows, for when the
surviving cattle were removed to high-lying pastures the
malady disappeared.^

From Dalmat'a it is reported that as the influenza appeared
in mankind of a rheumatic and catarrhal character, so it also
seemed to extend among animals as an epizooty of a febrile
and catarrhal nature, with a tendency to affections of the
tongue, the throat, and the joints.^

In Galicia it is noted that of all the epizootics among the
domestic animals, the rinderpest was the most wide-spread
and destructive. For the number attacked in two hundred
and thirty-six places in several districts amounted to ten
thousand five hundred and sixty-four, of which six thousand
nine hundred and sixty died, and three thousand six hundred
and four recovered. Besides this plague, in eighty-eight places
contagious dysentery, the foot-and-mouth disease, milzbrand,
and variola ovina, as well as scab, prevailed.^

In Bohemia_, where epidemic influenza appeared in March>
milzbrand showed itself among cattle in October and Novem-
ber. A contagious disease broke out among swine and
poultry, and hares were found dead in the fields.* In Upper
Austria, in the last half of the year, typhoid lung disease was
common among cattle, and ' foot-and-mouth disease ' among

' Sanitatsbericht der Provinz Brandenburg, 1833.

- Weber, CEsterreich. Med. Jalirbuch, vol. xxi. p. 20,

'Ibid. nbid. p. 368.

14

2IO

History of Animal Plagues.

cattle and swine. Anthrax was epizootic, and rabies was un-
usually common. Two horses had to be destroyed for
glanders.^ In Styria, during the summer, haematuria and
foot-and-mouth disease appeared among cattle.^

In the Tyrol, epizootic lung, bilious, joint, and softening of
the bone diseases were prevalent among cattle. In Roveredo,
contagious pleuro-pneumonia, and in Trient, the milzbrand
appeared among cattle.^ In the Voralberg and in the Canton
of St. Gallen, in Switzerland, the aphthongular, or ' foot-and-
mouth disease,' affected cattle and swine in the month of
November, and in this month it also broke out in the Grand
Duchy of Baden, and in the Cantons of Zurich, Schaffhuse,
and Bale.* This disease appears to have reigned, in a general
manner, from the frontiers of Poland even to Belgium.^

In Saxony, where epidemic influenza affected the human
species in April, the veterinary professor, Prinz, gives the
following account of the medical constitution of that king-
dom, and of this disease : ' The prevalent diseases among
the domestic animals corresponded to the temperature and
weather in this neighbourhood, and were of a catarrhal
and rheumatic nature. Yet in many months among certain
classes of animals — as dogs, cats, and horses, they were also
of a nervous type, marked by tendency to paralysis and
convulsions. Of pestilential diseases among animals, there
is only one that really deserves mention as occurring among
cattle and swine, and being due to contagion or the pre-
sence of miasma ; for the two following diseases receive
the common denomination of plague because they hap-
pened to have spread in one or more herds, though they
were ordinary well-known maladies: I. Anaemia, or rot in
sheep {Jtydropische cachexie), combined with the generation
of worms in the liver and bronchial tubes, appeared in many
of the low damp sheep-walks of Saxony, and reigned during
the winter. It was caused by the past wet year, and prevailed
among the flocks which, since 1828, had suffered from foot-

1 Weber. CEsterreich. Med. Jahibucli, vol. xxi. p. 193. - Ibid. p. 510.

'Ibid. p. 359. •'Archiv. Schweizerthieriirzte, vol. vii.

» h'orber. Handbuch der Seuchen der Hausthiere, p. 195.

Period from A.D. 1S30 to A.D. 1835. 211

rot. 2. Catarrhal fever of sheep broke out in the high-lying
lands in July and August, and chiefly among the lambs after
shearing, and the two-year-old animals, if they were exposed
to cold weather or to heavy showers. 3. The foot-and-mouth
disease among cattle and swine. The first trace of this
affection appeared in the month of July, on the south-
eastern border of Saxony, towards Bohemia, partly in the
district of Seblitz and Zinnwelde, and in stables on both
sides of the border. Later, it advanced in various directions,
. . . . At first it broke out only in separate and widely
separated districts, and in these only in scattered stables.
Still later, in September and October, this disease extended
over most of the districts of Saxony, and over many ofher
countries in Germany. The course of the malady from., its
outbreak plainly showed that it was contagious, as it could ^be
readily followed. In the month of June several large fairs
were held in Bohemia, and to these large numbers of Hun-
garian and Podolian pigs were brought. These the smaller
dealers bought and took into the provinces, and into Saxony,
to be sold to individuals for fattening purposes. These
animals brought the disease, for they were the first to suffer
from it. The traders, also, in several places were found
selling lame pigs.

' It is not to be thought that the pigs were suffering from
the disease in their native country, or acquired it there ; far
more likely is it that they received it during their transport,
and probably towards the end of their journey. This is
further confirmed by the fact, that pigs coming from unin-
fected districts to the markets took the disease in the stalls
in which they were .placed after being sold, and infected other
swine as well as cattle. That this malady is really infectious,
has been proved not only by exact observations of this kind
in cattle and swine, but also by many experiments, and the
latter even show that it may be transmitted to other kinds of
animals ; for two asses which were brought into a cowshed,
in which the greater number of the animals were suffering
from this disease, were shortly after attacked with a vesicular
eruption on the lips and in the mouth. The natural infection

14—2

212

History of Animal Plagues.

was generally produced by fodder which had been soiled by
the sick creatures, the mutual smelling and licking of each
other, or by tainted litter, and roadways which healthy beasts
passed over after the unhealthy. Hence the corresponding
local outbreaks on the mouth or feet, which mostly manifested
themselves in about three days. On the other hand, during
the later course of the pestilence, the presence of this infection
was not so palpable, for in many instances it attacked all the
cattle in a stable or neighbourhood all at once, thus constitut-
ing itself a veritable epizooty. As in the commencement the
disease could not fairly be ascribed to the foreign animals, but
only began in them because they were exposed to atmospheri-
cal influences during their journey, the question therefore
arises as to what were these injurious influences at work in
the production of the malady. Upon this point, however, it
can only be remarked that the state of the weather was just
the same in the course of this year as in the previous year in
which the foot-and-mouth disease occurred — namely, there
followed the excessive heat of May, June, and July, heavy
storms of rain, and then continuous rainy weather.'^

The ' influenza,' typhoid, or bilious fever of horses, as it was
then named, was observed at Schaff"hausen (Switzerland) and
at Baden in a very severe form. The symptoms did not differ
in any marked feature from those already enumerated.-

Ammon describes the same disease as it appeared in 1832,
in East Prussia, among the horses of the Russian and Polish
army corps on the frontier of that country. Funke says this
malady also appeared in 1832 and 1833 in many places in
Saxony.^

Herr Willand, veterinary surgeon at Worrstadt, in the pro-
vince of Hesse, makes us acquainted with a very curious
epizooty, or rather enzooty, which (already briefly referred to
in the last century), gradually increasing in severity and
extent in that province, at last assumed so serious a character
as to attract the attention of the Government. It consisted
in a fragility of the bones in cattle, similar to what takes place

Prinz. Clams tmd Radius. Beitiflge, vol. i. p. 136
2 Die Thierarzt. Schaffhausen, 1834. ^ WirtJi. Op. cit. p. 157.

Period from A.D. 1830 to A.D. 1835. 21*3

In very old age, accompanied by marked symptoms of disease
and suffering. This gentleman writes : ' So many instances
of the prevalence of this disease among cattle having prevailed
through the whole province of Hesse, I was commissioned by
Government to travel through the Cantons of Allzei, Worr-
stadt, Wollestein, and Oppenheim, in order to observe the
symptoms of the malady and the methods of cure employed.
I found, in the course of my journey, eighty-two patients
suffering from brittleness of the bones, and of these fifty-six
were destroyed. According to my promise to those by whom
I was employed, I shall describe the disease which prevailed
in these cantons in 1833, and previously in the year 1830, and
shall add to this description my opinion as to the prevention
and cure of it.

' Fragilitas ossium in cattle is a lingering disease, originating
from some altered state of the circulating fluid. It has some
similarity to the effects of old age, and may be known by the
gradual wasting away of the frame and the weakening and
brittleness of the bones, which latter at length, and without
any external mechanical force or cause, are suddenly snapped
asunder by the mere weight of the body. Early in the month
of May, 1830, when this disease prevailed at Dexheim, I had
many opportunities of observing it. In the commencement
of the complaint I always found that the animal was lame of
one foot— and by this I was frequently deceived, for I attri-
buted this lameness to some external or mechanical cause ;
but it always increased, and gradually established itself in all
four feet, and the animal could then scarcely stand. In
general, I found the beast in very good condition, although
there was always a slight degree of fever perceptible. She
also continued to give her milk as well as ever, and was
generally the best milker in the lot. But these deceitful ap-
pearances soon vanish; the animal wastes gradually away,
shivers ; its teeth chatter ; its gait is weak and tottering ; its
eyes are dull and watery; the mucous membranes of the
mouth arc foul and pale ; she lies down, and is unable to rise
again ; cough comes on ; she yields little or no milk ; her
food is not properly digested ; she has violent diarrhoea ; and

214 History of Animal Plagues.

at length she dies, with or without some of her bones having
snapped asunder.

' I never saw any oxen attacked by this disease. It always
appeared in cows, and in the best of them ; and either in
those that were pregnant, or that had calved three or four
weeks previously. It was quite evident that every little
nourishment which the mother had yet the power of acquiring
^vas appropriated by the young animal in utero; for I not in-
frequently found the new-born creature perfect and healthy,
while the parent was weak and wasted.

' On post-mortem examination of animals which had died
of this disease, I found that the fat had nearly or quite
vanished from the cellular tissue ; the flesh was flabby ; the
bones brittle, easily broken, and covered with reddish-blue
spots ; the inner side of the ribs very porous, and dark-red ;
the marrow thin and fluid-like, and of a dirty reddish-yellow
colour ; the substance of the spinal cord and the brain very
soft, and of a greyish colour ; in the ventricles of the brain,
and between it and the dura mater, was a quantity of fluid ;
and in many animals there was a great deal of fluid in the
chest and abdomen, especially in the latter ; in short, I found
all the appearances which in general accompany a disturbed
state of the animal fluids.

' Many writers assert that this disease is produced by sour
fermentations, and food which generates an acid, as potatoes,
turnips, clover, etc., and mouldy or unclean fodder, and also
by sour pasture and many kinds of grasses ; but they who
assert this should recollect that this disease has been prevalent
on the Alps for nearly fifteen years, where no kind of grass
grows, and impure mouldy fodder, which might generate acid
fermentations, is scarcely ever given. They should also recol-
lect that this disease has appeared in the cow-house in which
many cattle were kept, all of whom had the same food, and to
whom the same attention was paid. A very few suffered from
the malady, and all the rest escaped. Lastly, they should
recollect that this disease is equally prevalent through the
whole province of Hesse, and showed itself in every place that
I visited with but little diflerence, whether the animal was

Period from A.D. 1830 to A.D. 1835. 215

well or ill fed, well attended to or neglected. From this we
are led to believe that some internal cause exists-somcwhat
that favours the formation of an acid in the intestmal canal ;
for we know that in rumination the digestive organs are the
predominating ones, while, on the contrary, the sensitive
or-ans have little influence, and therefore diseases of the
digestive organs are of the most frequent occurrence. To this
may be added the different kinds of fodder, which are often
prejudicial, both as to quantity and quality-especially when
the season is bad and the different crops fail, and recourse is
obliged to be had to some substitute. Another cause is the
bad construction and total neglect of the cow-houses, and the
absence of pure air in them ; and lastly, the absurd dislike
which most owners of cattle have to allowing them to drink
any cold water. All these things tend more or less to favour
the production of this disease, although they cannot be posi-
tively said to be the absolute causes of it. I am convinced
that the foundation of the malady is laid by the giving of
impure or mouldy food, or any kind of food which has a ten-
dency to generate fermentation ; and the foundation being
laid, the disease very soon appears.

'How is this disease to be cured? First, and most im-
portant of all, are preventive measures, since it is far easit-r
to prevent a disease than to cure it after it once has appeared.'
Various remedies were tried ; ' but although by these means
I succeeded in curing several cows belonging to Herr Dahlen,
of Dexheim, which were attacked by this disease in the early
part of 1830, it returned again in the same year ; and, in spite
of all our efforts, they died with the symptoms before men-
tioned, and also very great swelling of the udder. I can
assure you that in the province of Hesse the greater part of
the cows are afflicted with this brittleness of the bones ; but
the farmers say as little as possible about it, because they
would not have the reputation of possessing diseased cattle.' 1

As a strange coincidence, we have a disease of the bones of
an entirely opposite character — ramollissement, or softening-
occurring as an epizooty at Antwerp, in Belgium. It was

1 Willand. Magazin fur die Gesammte Thierhielkunde, 1832.

2l6

History of Animal Plagues.

until then unknown to the veterinary surgeons, and appears
to be quite as remarkable as the epizooty in Hesse, to which
it bears several very striking points of resemblance, ' About
the month of May, 1833, a very remarkable disease, and one
which, I believe, has nothing analogous to it among those de-
scribed in veterinary medicine, manifested itself among a large
number of beasts belonging to the free and constrained
colonies of Merxplas and Ryckworsel, and, beyond these, to
farmers in their environs. It seems to have broken out all at
once in a great number of cows, and occasioned great dis-
order and alarm in the cow-houses of the constrained colony,
and showed itself some time after in the free one. . . . The
abundant salivation is regarded by the cow-keepers as the first
and principal premonitory sign. Besides this, the coat becomes
rough and " staring ;" the animal exhibits a very marked stiff-
ness of the extremities, moves them with difficulty, and can
scarcely walk. A great tension of the muscles of the neck,
and of those along the dorsal and lumbar spines, is observed,
and this makes the cow lower her head with slowness and
evident pain, as well as causing her to manifest extreme
rigidity in retrogression. All these symptoms become aug-
mented in intensity, with the exception of the salivation ; the
animal lies down on her hind-quarters, but rests the anterior
portion of the body on her knees — maintaining for a long
time this position, and if not aided when endeavouring to get
up, falls down again. Painful swellings take place on all the
extremities ; especially have these been remarked on the
articulations, such as the hocks, the hip-joints, the elbow, the
fetlock, and the coronary joints ; they have also been noticed
about the buttocks, the haunches, the middle of the ribs, and
other places. In some cases, however, they will be found on
only one limb, which becomes swollen, and the cow limps on
it. There is general emaciation, and gradual loss of strength.
The animal keeps a recumbent posture, and does not seek to
get up ; the engorged parts are hot, become more and more
swollen, until oftentimes they assume a monstrous size ; the
economy becomes considerably debilitated ; the altered bones
which serve as a basis for the soft, contractile textures become

Period from A.D. 1830 to A.D. 1835. 217

fractured and then the member hangs and dangles about.
The movements that the animal makes show that it is suffermg
most fearful pain ; these contortions make it look disfigured.
At last the fractured bone sometimes protrudes through the
skin— an event I have often had occasion to observe on many
animals. Although the cow is found in this afflicted condi-
tion, yet it eats, drinks, and performs its principal functions ;
and,' if we except the commotions it makes, it appears little
disturbed.

'The autopsy reveals: In the abdomen all the digestive
viscera are in their normal state and exhibit nothing parti-
cular, with the exception of the mucous membrane of the fourth
stom'ach {caillette\ which has a slight reddish-blue tint ; the
genital and urinary organs do not offer any appreciable lesion.
In opening the thorax, I did not find any disorder; the
lungs were collapsed and shrunken, etc. The vessels of the
cavtty of the cranium were injected, and the membranes
enveloping the brain were in their natural state. On cutting
into the bony enlargements, traces of inflammation were dis-
covered in all the textures in the vicinity of the fractured
bones ; they exhaled a gangrenous odour, and showed infiltra-
tions of a yellow colour, toning down to a livid black. In
the middle of these engorgements were found fragments of
necrosed bone of various sizes. The muscles were without
consistence, and in their interstices there existed yellowish
concretions. The bones that were fractured, but not yet de-
tached, were soft, and their extremities tumefied ; these also
exhaled a foetid odour ; the medullary substance was very
fluid ; the periosteum and the medullary membrane M'ere
engorged and thickened ; the vessels of these tissues con-
tained black blood, resembling in their colour those of the
neighbouring cellular tissue. At the centre of the articular
cartilages, red or reddish-tinted patches were observed, and
the synovial vessels appeared to be more engorged than in
their natural state.

' The causes of the disease. These cows, nearly all of which
were in calf, were fat enough, and nourished as in other
stables. In examining with the greatest care the dry food

2l8

History of Animal Plagues.

they had to eat, as also the meadows, in search of poisonous
plants, I could discover no cause capable of exciting this
malady. The water they had to drink has been analyzed by
a distinguished chemist, but it has afforded no trace of any
injurious ingredient, and there has only been observed a
deficiency of earthy salts. The cow-sheds were airy enough,
and grooming with the hand had not been neglected. The
animals were led to the meadows after the disease had made
some progress in the stables, and then they were only taken
there to favour the action of the muscles and remove the
stiffness- from the limbs. I am of opinion that the great
dryness of the season, and the scarcity, even the total failure,
of green food which is so necessary to animals during the
summer, constitutes the veritable cause which has predis-
posed these animals to this attack of disease, but the exciting
cause of which is altogether unknown to me.'i

As in last year, some cases bearing a resemblance to
cholera in man were observed among the lower animals.
Mr. Youatt reports one of these as occurring in a zebra:
' August 23, 1833. I was in the Zoological Gardens, and had
been sitting for a considerable time over the paddock of the
female zebra ; she was walking about as usual, with nothing
about her to indicate disease. I was told afterwards that she
had not eaten her food that afternoon ; but this occasionally
happened. One of the keepers passing about seven o'clock
thought that she heaved more than usual, and, as he watched
her, she purged a thin yellowish fluid. He immediately
started off for my house. ... The purging continued— it was
of a thin whey-like consistence, somewhat tinged with yellow.
She was uneasy— occasionally pawing, striking at the belly,
looking round at the flanks, stretching out every limb, as if
cramped or in pain, grinding the teeth, lying down and
getting up immediately, the flanks heaving laboriously ; the
mouth and muzzle were cold, the limbs intensely so ; the
pulse not to be felt at the jaw, and 1 10 at the side ; prostra-
tion of strength rapidly came on, and before he (the assistant)
left her she began to stagger as she walked. Mr. Chapman
1 De rOstdite Aigrie Epizootique. Rcceuil de Mdd. V^er. vol. xiii. p. 337-

Period from A.D. 1830 to A.D. 1835. 219

attempted to bleed her, but before half-a-pint of blood was
withdrawn she fell. When she rose he tried again to get
more blood, but she almost immediately fell again, and he
gave it up. He represented the blood as trickling down the
neck like so much treacle. I saw the blood on the following
morning, and it did not give any indication of inflammation.

The purging continued, but the pain gradually abated ;
the prostration of strength, however, rapidly increased ; about
ten o'clock she began to be afraid to move, for she fell almost
as soon as she stirred a limb. She, however, soon got up
again ; but before eleven she was unable to accomplish this ;
soon after that she ceased to make the attempt— she lay quiet,
unconscious, and died without a struggle before twelve. She
was not ill five hours. . . . The stench, when she was first
opened, was of a peculiarly oppressive character, and exceeded
anything I had ever experienced. I do not recollect any
foetor that approached to it. . . . When the contents of the
abdomen were first exposed in situ, there was scarcely any
difference in their appearance from that which might have
been expected, considering that the animal had been dead
nearly three days, except that there was a somewhat unusual
pallid, blueish lividness. There were, here and there, spots,
patches of a darker hue, but they did not wear the character
of inflammation. The whole of the intestinal canal was
evidently filled by some fluid, with an inconsiderable pro-
portion of flatus. The intestines were then opened. The
smaller ones were filled by a whey-coloured fluid, with a tinge
of yellow, and of a most offensive smell. They also, and the
jejunum particularly, contained at least a hundred worms,
of the teres species, but smaller than those usually found in
the horse, and with some points of difference from them.
There was not the slightest inflammation of any portion of
the small intestines. A little quantity of half-masticated hay
swam in the fluid. The larger intestines were filled with a
fluid of a somewhat browner colour, and more offensive. A
greater quantity of food was swimming in it. The inferior
portion of the colon exhibited a few dark dull patches, but
otherwise was more than usually free from infection. At the

2 20 History of Animal Plagues.

commencement of the colon, and about the caput coli, there
were externally more decisive marks of inflammation, but it
was not examined internally. To all external appearance,
the caecum was devoid of inflammation. The liver was of a
livid blue colour, very friable, and the duct filled, not turgid,
with bile. The spleen appeared to be enlarged, and was
friable. The lungs were in the highest state of congestion,
and the right side of the heart dilated with black blood.

' May it not be said that the symptoms during life, and the
appearances after death, indicated a disease analogous to
cholera in the human being ? She had been placed in a low
and damp situation in the garden, and where, and where alone
in the whole garden, disease, both thoracic and abdominal,
had prevailed during the preceding five or six weeks.' ^ In
the next year (1834), Mr. Bull of Huntingdon communicates
a case which the editor of the 'Veterinarian' has named
cholera, from the similarity of many of its symptoms with
that malady. The subject was a mare which Mr. B. was
called to attend at five p.m. on the 15th of September. * She
was perfectly well in the morning, but I found her at the
time stated very much tucked up, voiding copious watery
stools, of a fcetid smell and dark colour ; the pulse at the
submaxillary artery quick and very feeble ; extremities very
cold, the nose and ears particularly so ; the eyes very dull ;
the breathing much oppressed ; and there seemed, to be
suppression of urine. I bled her, and obtained with difficulty
three quarts of dark treacley blood. ... On the morning of
the 1 6th she was much worse. Eleven o'clock a.m. purging
stopped ; pulse not to be felt ; breathing very difficult ; tongue
blue, cold, clammy ; the lips also very blue. One o'clock p.m.
she fell down as if cramped ; voided more faeces, of a much
lighter colour, frothy, and with a putrid smell ; and there was
much twitching of the legs. This gradually subsided, and
about three o'clock she died very calm.

' Post-mortem Examination. — Bowels much distended with
flatus, and congested in several places ; as also was the
bladder, and especially the lungs, which were gorged with

> Youatt. Th e. Veterinarian, vol. rii. p. 427.

Period from A.D. 1830 to A.D. 1835. 221

blood ; but there was nothing like inflammation of them, or
solidification, or effusion.' 1

Mr. Lardner, M.R.C.S., states, that in the harbour of
Oporto a racoon was removed in a perfectly healthy state
from a ship in which there was no disease, into another
alongside in which the cholera was raging, and the hold of
which was very foul. In a few hours after, this animal was
seized with vomiting and cramps, and died.'^

An Indian newspaper^ contains the following : Ghazeepore,
August 27ih, 1833.— On the evening of the 26th of August,
two distinct shocks of an earthquake were sensibly felt here ;
the first at eleven o'clock, the second at half-past eleven. The
thermometer had risen a good deal through the day, which
was closer and more sultry than usual. The natives say
there has been nothing of the kind since 1820. It is worth
remarking that in that year an epidemic raged among the
stud horses, and carried off a great many. This year (June,
1833) the dreadful disease again broke out among them, and
carried off about fifty noble steeds. The obituary also for
Europeans fills a much larger space than usual, particularly
as regards the children ; and of cholera cases not a few.' In
another paragraph is the following extract : ' A letter from
Monghyr reports that on the 26th ult. a smart shock of
an earthquake was felt a little before nine o'clock ; and that
in the night of the following day a large flight of locusts
passed over the station : the direction whence they came is
not mentioned. We understand that a flight of locusts was
seen at Jubalpore about a fortnight before.'

Mr. Bennett* describes a series of heavy losses sustained in
many sheep-fan-ps I r Australia by the sheep devouring their
lambs. This morbv d a.ppetite of the breeding ewes was more
particularly manifested about the Murrumbidgee country,
New South Wales. ' On account of the morbid appetite
existing in the sheep, their natural innocent dispositions are

1 G. C. Bull. The Veterinarian, vol. vii. p. 548. = Tlie Lancet, 1833, P- 30i.
3 Bengal Hurkaru, November 6, 1833.
Bennett. "Wanderings in New South Wales. London, 1834, vol, i, p. 220,
vol. ii. p. 343.

222

History of Animal Plagties.

changed ; they become carnivorous and savage ; and it is
difficult to drive them away from the pits in which earth
impregnated with alkaline salts may be situated ; although
when taken to fresh run, they proceed feeding as usual, until
this salt earth is again discovered, when they become addicted
to the unnatural custom of devouring their lambs. On
discovering one of the pits, they rush to it with the activity of
deer, licking and gnawing the earth with avidity. Among
breeding-ev/es, eating the earth was followed by their
devouring the progeny of other ewes, when brought forth ;
and, on the shepherds endeavouring to save the lambs just
born from their voracity, they would rush upon them, biting
their trousers, and making strenuous efforts to seize the
lambs in the arms of the men. The different places about the
Murrumbidgee country, where this took place, were shown me
during my visit to that part of the colony. One place was
a black bog earth, on which marks of the tongues of the
animals, at those places where they had been licking, could be
distinctly seen ; the second place was similar to the first, and
two others consisted of a reddish clay. The situations were
about limestone ranges ; and it has been remarked that the
water holes, as they are termed (which, when dry, are the
places frequented by the sheep for the purpose of licking and
gnawing the earth), after standing for three or four days,
acquire a peculiar sickly, sweetish taste : and it is in these
pools, after the evaporation of the water, that the earth
is situated, so eagerly devoured by breeding-ewes. When
driven away, they are seen licking their mouths, as if enjoying
the delicious treat of which they had just partaken, making
ever)' endeavour to return ; and men were required to be kept
constantly on the watch, to prevent them ; but with every
exertion it was almost impossible to keep them off, for
one flock advanced as another was driven away, and the
people are soon tired out. (It is said, if sheep have not bitter
herbs in their pasturage, they will not thrive.) After eating
the earth, they do not feed on the herbage in any regular
manner ; they are restless, picking a bit of grass here and
there, according to the statement of the shepherds, until, on

Period from A.D. 1830 to A.D. 1835. 223

the approach of evening, they feed, in a more regular manner.
Sometimes six or eight ewes may be seen running to a
particular spot on the pasturage, about the roots of clumps of
irrass and sometimes those of fallen trees, licking and
^navving about the spot, as if it had a similar earth to that
found in the water-holes. They will burrow underneath the
bank to get the saline earth, at those places where it may be
most moist. The quality of the ground is supposed by the
shepherds to be more prevalent about limestone ranges than
any other geological formation ; but I cannot consider this as
satisfactorily proved. Although it has prevailed, for the most
part in places at which the limestone has formed the principal
geological character, yet there are other parts of the country
where sheep have manifested a similar morbid appetite, when
no limestone has existed. A ewe being missing about some
limestone ranges, was seen coming out of a small cavern, m
which she seemed to have found some of the saline earth, as
she had a quantity of earth about the mouth ; and the place
was afterwards much frequented by other ewes, until they
were removed from the spot. The sufferers in the loss of
lambs and ewes from this morbid appetite of the latter, are
principally Messrs. Button, O'Brien, Warby, Hume, Manton,
etc., all having sheep-runs about the Murrumbidgee country.
Mr. Button addressed a letter to the Government on the
subject, with the intention of getting his grant of land, if
possible, changed to some other part of the country. The
following is an extract from his letter, which clearly points out
the destructive effects produced among the flocks, the most
valuable stock of the settler in this colony, and on which his
prosperity greatly depends. "The disadvantages which I have
thus to detail to you, arise from the novel disease with which
the sheep are affected. It appeared after the first lambing,
and within four months from the time of my occupation of
the land in question. Its unaccountable and destructive
nature renders my selection utterly useless. The nature of
the disease, as far as I have yet remarked, is as follows :
The sheep, in the first place, devour this earth ravenously,
the pasture being at the same time luxuriant, principally

2 24 History of Animal Plagues.

rib-grass, and other succulent herbs ; they become speedily-
emaciated from this unnatural diet, more particularly as the
lambing season advances, and when lambing commences : the
other ewes surround the one lambing, and devour the young
as they emerge from the mother. The lambs saved through
the care of the shepherds become poverty-stricken, from the
low condition of the mothers, and generally die before they
become a month old. Thus, instead of having twelve hundred
lambs this season, as my regular increase, I do not count four
hundred ; besides a very great decrease from mortality in the
maiden sheep, originally purchased at high prices. The
number of shepherds required being at the same time thrice
beyond the proportion usual in the colony."

' The result was, that as the regulations of the Government
could not permit the grant to be changed, Mr. D. was obliged
to sell it as a cattle-station, and purchase land in a more
favourable part of the colony for his flocks. In December he
removed them, as a temporary measure, to Yas Plains ; some
of the ewes lambed after they had been removed, but the
morbid appetite had ceased with the exciting cause, and the
lambs were not attacked by the other ewes.

' At the Murrumbidgee country I saw one of the little lambs
which had just been saved from the ravenous ewes, and had
its tail bitten off before it was rescued. The circumstance
was as follows, which shows the mode of attack : The ewe
was lambing, when six or eight others rushed towards her, but
were prevented from coming near by the shepherds ; they
would not, however, go away, but kept following, and as soon
as the ewe dropped her lamb (the shepherds having been
engaged for the moment in driving away another party from
another lambing ewe) it was attacked, the tail was bitten, but
they were prevented from proceeding further by the immediate
return of the shepherds.

'They also evince as much eagerness to devour cleanings'*
or after-birth, if not prevented ; but if the little animal has
been licked clean by the mother, and is dry, it may be placed
in the hurdles amongst the other ewes, without their being
attacked or injured. Thus showing that the salt nature of

Period from A.D. 1815 to A.D. 1830. 225

tthe liquor amnii, which at that time covers the young one, is the
I {principal exciting cause for this extraordinary propensity to
c destroy, that appetite being excited by having previously eaten
tthe saline earth from the "water-holes." At the places where
tthis destruction to the hopes of the wool-grower takes place, the
[pasturage is luxuriant ; and the situations would be selected
tby a person ignorant of the before-mentioned circumstances
1 2 as some of the finest sheep-runs in the colony. The mother
vwill not devour her own progeny, but will sometimes (which
I is not unfrequent in maiden ewes) not take to the lambs, but
f" forsake them, until the shepherds hurdling the mother and
:v young one together, the mother at last acknowledges her
y young. It is not uncommon, however, for them to follow
i.: other ewes, attack and devour the Iambs brought forth by
tthem in as ravenous a manner as the others would have
c devoured their young. The ewes will not even wait until the
\ young lamb is born, but when they see a ewe yearning will
rrush upon her, devour the young one as it proceeds from the
r mother, and thus sometimes half the lamb is devoured before
lit is wholly born. Although the shepherds, by attention,
£ endeavour to avert the evil as much as possible, yet when
r many ewes are lambing, the number of shepherds attached to
tthe flocks is too small to enable them to attend to every
i individual case. It may be asked, Does not the usual impulse
c of natural feeling induce the mother to prevent the destruction
c of her offspring ? In reply, it may be said that the poor,
1" helpler.s, timid creature bleats, but makes no effort to defend
\ her young one from the furious attacks of the " mob." The
[poorest and leanest ewes are those remarked as being most
i { eager to devour the lambs of others ; they have been brought
I i into that miserable state, from having previously been fine fat
' ( ewes, merely from the custom of devouring the saline earth.
' The head shepherd of Mr. Button's flocks told me that there
\ was not a finer flock of sheep in the country than those, pre-
1 vious to their devouring the salt clay and earth, after which
t they " fell off in condition," until they became in the miserable
5 state in which I now saw them.

* The following is another, among too many instances of

15

2 26 History of Animal Plagues.

their voracity : A ewe had just commenced lambing, was in
labour, but no portion of the young one had yet been born,
when from fifteen to twenty ewes were seen running towards
her. The shepherds perceiving this, rescued the ewe, and
remained near her until she had done lambing ; the other
ewes kept at a short distance, occasionally advancing to make
an attack upon the young one. The lamb was brought forth,
and when perfectly cleaned and dry was placed in the .sheep-
fold in the evening with the mother, as usual, but the other
ewes then took no notice either of the mother or the young
one.

'Although the breeding-ewes suffer both in health and
acquire this morbid appetite of devouring the progeny of
others and their own cleanings, yet rams, wethers, and ewes
not breeding fatten to an astonishing degree upon the same
pasturage where breeding-ewes had become miserably lean,
and died in numbers from being in so low a condition. On
one of these spots, I saw a wether killed from a flock, which
was so fat as to render the meat almost uneatable ; and Mr.
Manton, who, from the cause before-mentioned, had been
obliged to remove all his breeding-ewes from his pastures
about the Murrumbidgee, would, nevertheless, send his rams
and wethers on the luxuriant pasturage as the best place to
fatten them ; indeed, all concurred that rams, wethers, and
even the ewes, if not breeding, thrive and fatten upon that
pasturage-land about the Murrumbidgee country which proves
so destructive to breeding-ewes and their lambs. Mr. Manton
had sheep on the limestone ranges, near the banks of the
Murrumbidgee river ; they became impoverished, and acquired
the morbid appetite for devouring the young lambs ; but when
he removed them to a granite soil, in the vicinity of Yas
Plains, they speedily recovered their former good condition,
and the morbid appetite left them, more probably from their
being no " water-holes" containing saline earth about the place,
than from the change of strata ; however, they never returned
to the unnatural practices, as was so frequent on the sheep-
runs at the former place.

' At Jugiong, Mr. O'Brien suffered in the loss of lambs from

Period frofu A.D. 1830 to A.D. 1835. 227

the same cause ; but by occasionally changing the pasturage
it was checked in some degree ; and although lambs were
sometimes lost, yet the destruction was much lessened. Even
when the lambs are not devoured or destroyed by the other
ewes, yet from the miserable condition of the mothers, the
shepherds have been obliged to remove the young from their
care, from inability to support them, when they endeavour to
rear them by hand as " pet lambs." In rearing lambs away
from the mother many perish ; and besides, the shepherds
object to raising pet lambs, if it could be avoided, because
they are seldom good sheep ; when turned out in the pasturage
they become poverty-stricken, still looking for the fostering
hand that reared them.

'At Narangullen, a sheep station in the Murrumbidgee
country, near Guadarigby, before the sheep discovered the
spots in which the saline earth was situated, they brought
forth the young in the usual manner, and the cleanings (if
the delivery happened during the night) were found in the
fold, and given as usual to the dogs ; but when the earth was
discovered, the lambs were attacked at birth, and the cleanings
were devoured, if not timely removed by the shepherds.

' At Darbylara (also situated on the banks of the Murrum-
bidgee river) Mr. Warby, who has a fine farm at that place,
suffered such losses among his flocks from this cause, that he
was obliged to sell those that remained ; yet at Brungal, a
station about eight miles distant near the Tumat river, there
was a small flock of sheep which had not shown any of this
morbid appetite, and were in excellent condition. On visiting
Mr. Warby's farm, the whole had the appearance of being
excellent pasturage, and affording excellent sheep-runs ; but
about the pastures there were several pools of brackish water,
to which the sheep resorted, and from which it was found at
last impossible to keep them. At this place again, although
so destructive to breeding-ewes, rams, wethers, and ewes not
breeding would fatten, and become in the finest condition,
upon the same pasturage. The sheep at these places eagerly
devour the Azolla pinnata, which grows abundantly in the
whole of the ponds and rivulets. At Guadarigby I remarked

15—2

2 28 History of Animal Plagues.

that the cattle, after they had been turned out of the stock-
yard, invariably came licking the ground about the huts. After
some doubt as to the cause, it was found that the water in
which salt meat had been boiled was thrown away about that
place ; and this it was that attracted the cattle ; they would
even attack one another to get at some places which had been
more impregnated with salt than another. This inclination
of animals for salt is by no means adduced as anything novel ;
it is not confined to those domesticated among the herbaceous,
but also among the wild in that class of animals ; for at
Blowrin Flat, in the Tumat country, a water-hole, nearly dry
in some parts, and at others perfectly so, and similar to those
I had before seen frequented by sheep, abounded with the
tracks of the kangaroo ; and, on a closer examination, the
earth (which glittered in the sun as if impregnated with saline
particles) was licked and gnawed, as was done by sheep in
other parts of the country ; but it would be difficult to know
whether similar results occurred with the breeding females of
the kangaroos.

'At Lomebraes (about thirty miles fromGoulburn Plain, on
the road to Yas Plains), the farm of Mr. John Hume, I was
also informed that lambs and ewes had been lost from similar
causes to those I have been relating. The water of the river
which runs through his farm in the summer season, when the
water is low, is hardy even so much so as to curdle the soap
and prevent any washing with it ; but in the winter season,
when the stream is increased, it becomes softer. It is curious
that Mr. Warby mentioned that a number of his cows had
" slipped their calves," or miscarried, and thought it proceeded
from some poisonous herb they had eaten ; but Mr. Hume
mentioned that his cows, which are accustomed when breeding
to devour the earth impregnated with saline particles, " slip
their calves," and he could attribute it to no other cause.
This occurred also at the farms of Gonnong, Mut-mut-billy ;
and at all places where the same propensity of licking and
gnawing the saline earth and devouring the lambs occurred
among the ewes, " slipping the calves " occurred among the
cows ; but I heard nothing of their devouring the young.'

Period from A.D. 1830 to A.D. 1835. 229

A disease among cattle, of an epizootic character, was re-
ported from Jamaica. It was very destructive, and appeared
to be most prevalent in low, marshy situations, though it was
frequent and fatal everywhere in the West Indies. It was m-
curable, and as soon as an animal became affected it was
slaughtered. The chief symptom was cough and consequent
emaciation ; and droves of these 'cough cattle,' as they were
named, were to be found on every plantation of any con-
siderable size. The chief morbid appearances found after
death were depositions of calcareous matter in the trachea,
bronchi and pleuree, with tuberculous matter in the lungs and
liver.i

Hydrophobia prevailed to an alarming extent among the
canine race at Barbadoes.^

A.D. 1834. The year was very hot throughout the greater
part of Europe, and plague was destructive in mankind at
Constantinople, Cairo, Alexandria, and Smyrna. Cholera
broke out at Gibraltar, and attacked nearly everyone on the
rock. A shower of fish was recorded as having been witnessed
on the 17th of May in the neighbourhood of Allahabad, East
Indies. Eye-witnesses attest that about noon, the wind being
from the west, and a few distant clouds visible, there was a
blast of high wind, accompanied with much dust of a reddish-
yellow colour, with which the atmosphere was greatly charged.
The blast appeared to extend in breadth about four hundred
yards. Immense trees and large buildings were thrown down,
and when the storm had passed away, the ground all about
the village was found strewed with small fish to the extent of
two bijahs. The fish were all of the chalwa species {Clupea
cultratd); they were a span or rather less in length, and from
one sear to one and a half in weight. When found they were
all dead and dry. The Jumna runs about three miles south
of the village, and the Ganges fourteen west by east. The
fish were not fit for eating, and it was said that when put in
the pan for dressing they turned to blood.^

^ The Veterinarian, vol. vi. p. 35'-

- Schomburgk. History of Barbadoes, p. 683.

^ Bascome. Op. cit. p. 163.

230 History of Am7?ial Plasties.

The cholera reached as far north as Sweden this year. At
Gothenburg it was remarked: 'The summer of 1834, when
the contagion broke out, was remarkable for its great heat.
During the month of July the thermometer ranged between
80° and 90° of Fahrenheit, and no rain had fallen for a long
time ; and it was remarkable that the leaves of the trees in the
vicinity of the town turned yellow and dropped, as if the
autumn had been far advanced— a sign 'that there was some-
thing in the atmosphere that suited neither vegetable nor
animal life.'i

In Belgium the breaking out of the cholera was preceded
by a remarkable phenomenon in the presence of vast numbers
of grubs {Aphis persicce). In the month of September the
canals of Ghent were cleaned out, and the mud and slime lay
for a long time on the quays and in the streets. The Medical
Society had predicted the breaking out of cholera, and in
scarcely two days afterwards that disease appeared. All at
once, and at the same time, innumerable legions of the peach-
grub appeared. On the 28th of September they were seen in
tremendous swarms at Maria-Kerke, between Bruges and
Ghent ; on the 29th they were so numerous at the latter place
that they intercepted the light of the sun when they rose in
clouds from the ground, and their swarms were constantly
passing from seven o'clock in the morning until the evening.
The walls of the ramparts were entirely covered with them,
and they appeared to make the vegetation of the country
quite black. On the 5th of October only a few were seen at
Antwerp ; but on passing the Escant, towards the Tete de
Flandre, they were seen again in great clouds, all the road
from Antwerp to Ghent being black with them. At the same
time they travelled in formidable swarms towards Enclos ;
and people, to guard themselves from them, were obliged to
wear spectacles and to cover their mouths with handkerchiefs.
On the 9th of October they had reached to Alost ; and until
now not one of these creatures had been seen at Brussels, their
dense and lengthened masses having accumulated at the
bottoms of the valleys which separate Brabant from Flanders.

Z. Lloyd. Scandinavian Adventures, vol. i. p. 432.

Period from A.D. 1830 to A.D. 1835. =3i
They sp.eaa .he».,ves f™» the sou«. —

s at Tourna,. On the .ath of October they cove ed

T^rnssels and on the same day they arrived at Mons trom
Brussels, ana un ^ ^ storm

Brussels they spread to Louvain. On *<= '5th a g
occurred, and many days of ram followed. ^
these insects disappeared fron, L.ege, and the.r dead

f It ,mon^ the lower animals ; but the aphthongular
eZo y (f^t-rnd mouth disease) was as yet the most nofce-
ab e of'all It was present in Switzerland and m many parts
of France. In the latter country .t was seen m the depart
irorthe Vosges : 'The aphthous fever, name also ap ous
stomatitis, since the month of February last attacked
horned cattle in the department of the Vosges. It first broke
ou at Archettes, then among the farms in the mountams, and
fin shed by invading the communes on the plan, Accordmg
to the oldest cattle-breeders, a similar disease had been known
here for about thirty years. Of but little importance as to
ts consequences, this epizooty nevertheless causes much
apprehension among the farmers; for its appearance m a
sfable is an almost Ltain indication that all the an.mals no
matter what their sex or age may be. will become affected
Its causes, like those of other epidemics and ep.zoot.es, yet
remain unknown. Some believe it to be due to the im-
moderate use of potatoes or beech-mast cake ; but our obser-
vations are far from confirming this. The disease showing
itself in the winter as well as in the summer, the •nfluence of
temperature cannot be invoked as a cause ; and it is the same
with regard to stables and r/^»;«. As to its contagious
nature, this is also doubtful. It appears that in certain
localities the same influences under which the aphthous fever
may be developed among cattle have been such as to affect
other animals, and hence the cry of contagion. It has even

'Mmn. Annales dts Sciencss miutelks, 1836.

232 History of Animal Plagues.

been advanced that people who have drunk the milk of
diseased cows have been indisposed thereby.'^

In Courland, in consequence of the very hot weather and
rains, milzbrand prevailed with great severity. It was, how-
ever, confined to the places where it broke out, and to the
animals primarily affected (and which died very quickly), by
removing the healthy, putting them in stables, and using cold
applications to them. Only one hundred and forty-eight
cows, sixty-four swine, twenty-two sheep, and thirty-one
horses died in the whole government, notwithstanding the
epizooty breaking out simultaneously in several localities.
With cold weather all traces of it vanished ; but rheumatic
affections were then very prevalent, especially among horses,
and tetanus was more frequent than in previous years.^

In Galicia, epizootic diseases were very prevalent, but the
most destructive of all was the rinderpest {Idserdiirre) among
cattle, as out of 22,402 attacked by it, 16,081 died. This
time the districts lying on the eastern border, and through
which foreign cattle usually passed, suffered less than the
western and northern districts. At the same time there
raged epizootically among cattle the milzbrand, the foot-and-
mouth disease, and a peculiarly rapid and destructive ophthal-
mia {augensteife).

Milzbrand also appeared among pigs in the form of throat
anthrax, and among sheep as splenic apoplexy {blutseuche)
with carbuncles. The rinderpest in cattle was not compli-
cated with any other diseases, and it was remarked that in
the autumn it carried off those animals which in the spring
and summer had been attacked, and had perfectly recovered
from epizootic ekzema.^

In Styria there was a drought and scarcity of fodder, but
the only malady was the ' foot-and-mouth disease,' which pre-
vailed in a mild form in the district of Pettau.*

In the Tyrol the chief disease was the universal ' ekzema
epizootica,' which, besides attacking cattle, manifested itself

^ Mat/lieu. Recueil de Med. Vet^r. vol. xii. p. 64.

^ Possart. Russische Ostseeprovinzen, vol. i. p. 201.

^ Neuhauser. CEsterreich. Med. Jahrbuch, vol. xxiv. p. 340.

* Von Vest. Ibid.

Period from A.D. 1830 to A.D. 1835. 233

also among swine. Disease of the joints and brittleness of

the bones are also noticed as frequent.^

In Pomerania the forage was so scarce that the cattle had

to be driven out in many districts to pasture, almost before
the snow was off the ground, when they had nothing to eat
but the old rotten herbage of the winter, and nothing to drink
but muddy brackish water. The consequence was that in the
month of June they suffered from the milzbrand, and from the
foot-and-mouth disease. In the same month the Anemone
nemorosa grew so abundantly in the pastures that many cattle
were poisoned by it. Glanders and worm diseases were more
than usually common among horses, and the departmental
veterinary surgeon, Hildebrand, observed that catarrh fre-
quently degenerated into glanders, which destroyed many
horses. Dr. Fauniger attempted inoculation for ' ekzema
epizootica.' Matter was taken from the feet of the diseased
and transferred to the ears of healthy animals, and in a short
time pustules containing a cheesy-like pus were formed. These
animals were not, however, in the least degree protected by it,
but many of them had the malady twice, and even thrice after
the operation. The disease was remarkably prevalent and
severe, and sheep, goats, and swine were affected. The feet
were seldom attacked without the mouth being also involved ;

- indeed, the mouth was most frequently the seat of disease.
It generally broke out first among cattle, at other times among
swine, and afterwards among the sheep and goats. It was
thought to have been caused by the heat and drought, which
altered the nature of the forage and herbage. Milzbrand was
exceedingly rife, and was supposed to be due to the same
causes. In the district of Cosliner it was particularly fatal,
and when it first broke out death quickly ensued ; but after a
while it became modified, and the animals lingered a longer
time — usually from four to eight days. The symptoms then
were loss of appetite and suspension of rumination, tucking
up of the belly, a swelling between the jaws, which rapidly
extended to the breast, and along to the udder. Extreme

^ Von Vest. Oisterreich, Med. Jahrbuch, vol, xxiv. p. 340.

234 History of Animal Plagues.

languor and prostration set in, and the animals died in con-
vulsions. These were the symptoms noted in June. An
examination of the dead bodies showed the blood to be black
and tarry-looking ; about the throat there was much yellow
serum ; the spleen was softened and pulpy and like treacle, and
in the chest and abdomen there was much blood-coloured fluid.

Cow-pox was observed in fifteen cows which stood all in
one row in a stable. Contagious pleuiro-pneumonia was epi-
zootic, and so was sheep small-pox. The district veterinary
surgeon Schellhaase reports an unusual epizootic ophthalmia
among cattle, which suddenly attacked about twenty animals,
of whom several died.^

In Brandenburg, the winter and spring diseases were of a
herumatic and catarrhal character. The summer had been
unusually hot, and there had been a great drought, which
gave rise to gastric and bilious complaints, with a special
tendency to diseases of a nervous kind. Milzbrand was not
unfrequent in the autumn among mares in foal, or those which
had foaled, when these were depastured in low-lying marshy
regions with no protection from the sun. Glanders and worm
diseases were common : the former malady often followed
neglected strangles ; thirty-seven horses were destroyed in
one district. The mouth-and-foot disease spread over the
whole of Frankfurt, and attacked all the herds which had
escaped it the previous year, and many of those which had
already been affected. It did not pursue any definite course,
as in the last year, but broke out here and there, and occurred
much earlier in the season, breaking out in March and in May.
In the summer months, favoured by the continued heat and
drought, it became very general. The epizootic ophthalmia
showed itself among the herds in a great many districts, and
raged most severely where the ' ekzema epizootica ' was least
prevalent. It attacked animals of all ages and both sexes, and
only ceased its ravages when both eyes of an animal were des-
troyed, when no aid was given. There was a wonderful agree-
ment in the symptoms as given in the various reports. The
causes were generally supposed to be the great heat and drought,

1 Sanitatsbericht der Provinz Pommern, 1834.

Period from A.D. 1830 to A.D. 1835. 235

the long-continued dry winds, some peculiar and indescrib-
able constitution of the atmosphere, and the many dust-storms
which mechanically irritated the eyes very much. The
disease was similar in its earlier symptoms to those of a
rheumatic-catarrhal affection. On the second day the eyes
were closed, tears flowed down the cheeks, and on opening
the eyelids the conjunctiva appeared much inflamed. The
cornea became opaque, as if covered with a skin, and upon
the pupil there was formed a bullet- shaped excrescence of a
yellowish colour, surrounded by a reddish ring. After a few
days this mass burst, and gave vent to a transparent fluid,
which left a small cavity behind it. In the more aggravated
cases, there appeared luxuriant fleshy granulations, and pro-
fuse suppuration into the anterior chamber of the eye. The
conjunctiva remained considerably inflamed, the globe of the
eye gradually diminished in size, and within a fortnight or
three weeks a large fleshy mass projected from it between the
eyelids. Another description may here be noticed : ' In the
Veterinary Sanitary Report for the third quarter of 1834, there
is a notice by the district veterinary surgeon, Ziegenbein, of
Ampfurt, of the catarrhal inflammation of the conjunctiva
among cattle. He says that it was remarkable for its pre-
valence, especially towards the end of July. They closed
their weeping eyes, avoided the light, the inflamed conjunctiva
bulged from between the eyelids, and was frequently covered
with phlyctense, which also showed themselves on the con-
junctiva covering the eye, near the cornea, and often caused
an opacity of this portion.')^

Lung disease was extremely prevalent in a number of
districts. Owing to the continued heat of the spring and
summer months, this peculiar lung disease was complicated
with bilious-gastric symptoms, due to the diminished biliary se-
cretion, manifested by diarrhoea or constipation, meteorization,
and yellowness of the mucous membranes. In many districts
the sheep-pox was rather general, and its origin could not be
traced, inasmuch as beyond a circumference of several miles
the disease had not existed, and no strange animals had

^ Curlt und Hertxvig. Magazin, vol. i. p. 454.

236 History of Animal Plagues.

entered the neighbourhood. Sheep were also attacked with
splenic apoplexy, the best-conditioned ewes suffering most ;
seldom were the rams or yearlings attacked, never lambs.
Death was exceedingly rapid, the animals suddenly falling,
and in less than a minute were dead. When removed to
a less nutritious pasture, and Glauber's salt, and saltpetre
mixed with the water, given them to drink, the mortality
ceased. To human beings handling these diseased sheep the
risk was as great as in milzbrand.

Among pigs foot disease was common, and those driven to
markets suffered exceedingly. Where treatment and rest
were allowed they soon recovered. Among dogs rabies was
prevalent in many districts of the Frankfurt department.

Among fowls there was noticed, in and around Berlin, an
epizooty which has been described by the veterinarian Hal-
bach. It affected hens, geese, and ducks. They became dull,
moved with difficulty, separated themselves from the healthy,
and retired to out-of-the-way places ; they crouched down,
ate but little ; their red combs became pale or blue ; the
feathers became soiled ; the eyes sank in their orbits ; and
from the beginning of the disease till their death there was
diarrhoea of a grey, white, green, and watery matter, accom-
panied by painful straining. Great thirst was manifested.
Death took place in many in a few hours ; in others, in
twenty-four, thirty, or forty-eight hours ; but they seldom lived
longer than three days, or, if they did, convalescence took
place, which was most unusual. An examination soon after
death showed the skin to be as in health — the flesh firm and
red ; the crops and stomachs were more or less filled with
food of a natural consistency ; the whole of the intestines ex-
ternally looked as if injected with blood, but their interior was
healthy, the mucous membrane only being softened, and
covered with a dirty grey mucus. The contained fluid was of
a variety of colours and consistency, and mixed with much
mucus. The liver was healthy, so were the other viscera.
The pathognomonic features of this deadly disease were the
never-ceasing diarrhoea, and the rapid sinking of the vital
powers. It appeared in March and April, and nothing was

Period from A.D. 1830 to A.D. 1835. 237

known as to its causes or its contagiousness. Remedial
measures were of no avail. ^

Professor Prinz says of Saxony: 'The febrile foot-and-
mouth disease among cattle, sheep, and swine was noticed at
first among the home cattle only as an infectious disease, but
later it spread over the whole land. The infection followed
the introduction of droves of strange swine from Bohemia and ,
Silesia at the end of May and beginning of June, which con-
taminated the animals they met. The selling these animals
in small lots caused the malady to break out in numerous-
farms, often wide apart, where they were bought for fattening.
The only thing that favoured the rapid suppression of the
disease was the fact of the cattle not having yet been turned
out to graze in the fields, which allowed proper isolation to be
effected. In September and October the same disease broke
out among the cattle in many places, sometimes only in indi-
vidual farms, and at other times among all the farms in a
locality, without any infection from without — at least, not by
strange swine. The outbreaks occurred in the stalls where
many animals stood, though not simultaneously, but gradu-
ally, as with contagious diseases. The symptoms were dif-
ferent slightly to those in which infection could be traced.
The animals — particularly the cows— eight days before they
^ were seized, refused their food for a short time, and gave a
smaller quantity of thick milk. When they again began to
recover their appetite, and the other symptoms of gastric
irrtation had disappeared, they commenced within a given
time to slaver and go lame ; so that now the local signs of
the affection became apparent in the mouth and feet. Fre-
quently in well-fed milking cows an eruption of vesicles-
appeared on the teats of the udder. The origin of this later
seizure was attributed to the animals having eaten the white
cabbage {Brassica oleracea capitata), especially the leaves..
This vegetable had been grown in the fields this year, and
rapidly became putrid. The reporter of this asserts that ia
many stables the milk cows took the disease when fed oa

1 Sanitatsbericht der Provinz Brandenburg, 1834.

History of Animal Plagues.

these cabbages, which their owners had stacked for winter
fodder.

' The cow-pox, if one may judge from the nature of the
fictitious inoculations, appeared in the month of July inde-
pendently of the foot-and-mouth disease, or other mammary
eruptions. Young cows which had but lately calved were
most frequently attacked ; they were first dull and languid
for some days ; then there appeared upon the teat and upon
the udder hard round knots of a deep red colour, which were
painful and about the size of a half hazel-nut. On the second
or third day after the formation of these tumours the epidermis
was raised in the shape of a flat pustule, which contained a
blueish-grey lymph. These pustules on the day after they had
appeared often burst, and gave vent to a thick ropy pus. On
the fifth day the teats were very sensitive, especially when
the animals were milked, and the pustules become covered
with thick scabs. In addition to this there arose on the teats
and the mammary gland small pustules which soon dis-
appeared, often to be succeeded by other crops in other places.
From the eighth day after the appearance of the first pock the
sensitiveness began to disappear, and the scabs to fall off,
leaving deep red depressions. The animals then showed much
itchiness in this region, and eagerly licked their udders, and
after several weeks there came small bristly warts, which were
permanent. The course of this cow-pox was therefore shorter
than the real cow-pox, which, according to old authorities, is
the case. Some modern veterinarians who will not admit this
invariableness in the nature and course of the true pock, are
somewhat borne out by the fact that it broke out in some
gradually and repeatedly. Nevertheless, several doctors in
this neighbourhood have attempted the vaccination of children
with the matter obtained from these pocks, but without result;
and the same failure has been noted when cattle were inocu-
lated.'^

On the Elbe, at Magdeburg, the following report is made.
'In the summer of 1834, the milzbrand, frequent as it
usually is in this busy region, bore this year so virulent a

' Frim. Clarus und Radius. Beitrage, vol. ii, p. 78.

Period from A.D. 1830 to A.D. 1835. 239

character, and ran so rapid a course, as no one remembers. It
attacked animals of all classes, ages, and sex ; and in many
instances even mankind. At its commencement it was most
acute, for the first victims died without showing the least
symptoms of disease. This was the case not only among
cattle, but also among horses and sheep. Even the game in
the woods was not spared, and in the forest more than one
hundred stags are said to have been found dead from this
disease. Later, its course was less rapid ; the animals were
for a longer time ill without manifesting any striking symp-
toms, holding out for from twelve to twenty-four hours or
two days ; one horse died on the fifth day. Low-lying places
— such as those situated on the borders of rivers and streams,
or morasses — suffered most, while other places not far from
these, but whose situation was more favourable, were more
tenderly visited. As to the time, in July only a few isolated
cases occurred ; with the arrival of August the mortality was
more considerable, and towards the end of that month and
beginning of September it assumed its greatest virulency.
Most of those seized died during the night or in the morning;
fewer died at midday. Late in the afternoon the early
symptoms showed themselves, especially among cattle at
pasture, and these succumbed that evening or during the
^ night. The causes of this fearful disease cannot possibly be
attributed to such unimportant influences as would be found
in low-lying places — they deserve more attentive investigation
than they have hitherto received, in order to discover them.'
The difficulties, however, are so great that they have not yet
been overcome ; hence the various opinions as to the origin
of the milzbrand ; at one time it is sought for in the weather,
at another in the locality, the fodder, the water they drink, or
even in unknown cosmical influences.

' In regard to this disease, according to the opinion of the
reporter, the continuous heat and drought of the summer of
1834 was only a predisposing cause ; for the weather was
everywhere in the month of May of an equable character, and
the disease first began to show itself in a malignant manner in
August, and increased by degrees until in September it had

240 History of A7iimal Plagues.

attained its greatest severity. There were, nevertheless, many-
places which, during the raging of the malady, were spared.
In severely attacked localities there were herds which did not
lose a single head of cattle. It is clear, therefore, that the
pestilence only showed itself in those quarters where, in
addition to the predisposing causes, some special exciting
cause was brought to bear. This, however, lay, as Hcrr
Ziegenbein avers, in the state of the fodder which the animals
consumed, both at pasture and in their stables ; for to all
appearance this everywhere was in an unhealthy state through
the bad weather, being as if mildewed. A special indication as
to the operation of this fodder on animals is made plain to the
attentive observer by the frequent occurrence of colic, diarrhoea,
and a state bordering closely on inflammation of the intestines
when they were fed on it ; and in other cases there arose but
too frequently all the varied forms of anthrax. In an out-
lying farm where cattle and three-year-old horses were fed on
green and mildewed lucerne for three or four days, two of the
oxen died from milzbrand, and three of the horses were
attacked, of which one only was saved with great difficulty.
When the remaining animals again received their healthy fodder
the malady did not return. In another farm, where young
cattle from one and a half to two years old were fed upon dry
forage, they remained healthy ; but when, however, they were
sent to pasture for three days after the harvest, one morning
two were found dead in the stable. On being once more
brought to dry fodder and kept from the pasture, no further
casualties occurred. On one domain the disease broke out
among the herds through their being fed on damaged clover,
although it was varied with buckwheat, and later with tender
green vetches; and preventive bleedings, with some other
measures, were resorted to, such as setons, the animals being
bathed and made to swim, and all kinds of internal remedies
given. It was not until all these precautionary means had been
set aside, the setons removed, and the cattle were receiving
one half allowance of green fodder and another of good hay,
with plenty of good water in their stables, that the disease
suddenly ceased.'^

" Gurll und Hertwig. Magazin, vol. i. p. 456.

Period from A.D. 1830 to A.D. 1835. 241

In the Russian steppes, from 1833 to 1835, Flerow noticed
an epizootic disease among cattle which the Tartars termed
malik, and which he thought a different malady to the Cattle
Plague. 'Malik is a Kalmuck word, which, according to
Flerow, means a malignant or inflammatory fever {febris
maligna, iyp/ms ptitridus epizodticus) that does not attack
isolated animals, but large numbers, and passes from one place
to another. If it breaks out in a district, it spreads over the
whole country until it has run its course, when it directly
passes to another, and from thence travels to another place.
This is the character of the plague named " Malik." Such
conditions attended the disease which Herr Flerow witnessed
in 1832, in a district of the town of Serpuchow, and which
prevailed as far as the Astrackan border, where the cattle
were yet quite healthy. When, however, in consequence of
the failure in the crops, the inhabitants of Little Russia were
compelled to drive their cattle to the more distant steppes to
winter, the disease showed itself; but at the approach of spring
in 1834, and owing to the profusion of good herbage, it entirely
ceased. In the same manner, according to the reports of
Flerow, the " malik " broke out in an equally destructive form
along the Caucasian frontier, following the course of the river
Terek and Malki. Here it was so virulent that of the animals
attacked with It more than one half died. In the first period
of the " malik " the cattle appear much depressed, remain
behind the herd, lose their appetite, hang their heads and ears,
have profuse salivation, but are otherwise to all appearance
healthy. The breathing is slow and feeble, and in all their
movements debility and languor are plainly perceptible. In
the inflammatory stage or period, the symptoms are more
palpable and violent. The loss of power is very remarkable ;
so much so, indeed, that the sick animal never gets up if lying,
or if standing never moves from the spot. The breathing
becomes quickened, but short, strong, and jerking ; the eyes
look inflamed and are tearful ; the gaze is fixed on any
object ; from the mouth and nostrils flows mucus, which, how-
ever, has no smell ; the tongue is white but not coated ; the
gums and palate are inflamed ; the animal exhibits violent

16

242

History of Animal Plagues.

thirst, the horns and ears are hot ; in a word, there is violent
fever. In this stage there is already diarrhoea, which is some-
times mixed with blood — or, on the contrary, constipation or
meteorization. In the third stage the animal is continually lying
with the limbs contracted, the head drooping, and closed and
suppurating eyes ; the breathing is difficult and intermittent ;
there is much groaning, and the breath is stinking ; the saliva
is profuse and is also strong-smelling ; from the nostrils flows
a fluid which is often mixed with blood ; the mucous mem-
brane peels off the tongue in considerable pieces ; the urine is
foul-smelling ; the faeces are stinking, and black or yellow-
coloured, consistent or fluid, and mixed with mucus. If there
is constipation much tympanitis is observed, which is relieved
by the passage of flatus. In this condition, which betokens
an utter suspension of all the functions of the intestinal canal,
the animals usually die. Even before death the birds of prey
fly about the unfortunate animal and peck out its eyes, or tear
any other parts which they can get at. The principal appear-
ances which were noticed after death, were the following : the
muscular system was much redder than in healthy animals,
especially in the vicinity of the bloodvessels. The blood had
a very dark colour like tar ; in the brain the vessels were con-
gested with dark red blood. The lungs, externally and
internally, were of a yellowish colour, and softened as well as
filled with a frothy blood, but more usually with a foamy
mucus. The nostrils and air-passages in general were filled
with a blood-tinted frothy mucus, especially about the laiynx.

Both the heart and large vessels contained black coagulated
blood ; in the mouth, upon the gums and palate, as well as
about the tongue, the mucous membrane was normal, but upon
the lips it had become separated. This membrane within the
oesophagus was very much inflamed ; in the first three divisions
of the stomach there was a quantity of pulpy food, but no
other noticeable object or sign; in the smaller intestines of
some animals there were traces of gangrene, particularly in
the duodenum; the large intestines in those animals which
had suffered from diarrhoea or dysentery were much more
inflamed than is usually the case. The liver was inordinately

Pe7'iod from A.D. 1830 to A.D. 1835. 243

enlarged, dark within and without, looking as if it had been
cooked, and containing black thickened blood in its capillaries.
The gall-bladder was much distended with black, or greenish-
yellow-coloured bile. The Kalmucks assured H. Flerow that
rupture of this viscus occasionally took place. The spleen,
like the liver, had an unusually dark colour, was softened, and
on being cut into exuded a spumy blood. The kidneys and
bladder were not changed, but the urine contained in the latter
had a bad odour.^^

Mr. F. Good describes an epizootic disease among deer in
England, which from time immemorial had broken out at
irregular intervals and swept off thousands of these animals.
It appears to have been an inflammatory fever, more particu-
larly implicating the brain and its coverings. ' Colonel Horner,
of Mells Park, about twelve miles from hence, has fine herds
of deer, but since April last no less than sixty head of them
have died of a malady of a very peculiar nature. Yesterday
I received a letter from the medical practitioner of that place,
desiring me to come over and examine into the affair. I im-
mediately proceeded thither. The first subject I was shown
was a fine buck, which had died in the climax of the disease
the previous evening near a stream of water. The keeper in-
formed me that, when attacked with the disease, the animal
ran furiously at everything, butting his antlers and head
against the paling, trees, walls, or whatever opposed his onward
course, and expired in three days from the commencement of
the disease. He also informed me that the appearances were
the same in every case which he had examined after death,
excepting in the larynx.

' I then proceeded to a post-mortem examination. I first
dissected out a portion of the trachea, and found the mem-
brane lining the larynx very highly inflamed, and the inflam-
mation extending as far down as the bronchi. The epiglottis
was similar to a piece of scorched leather ; the root of the
tongue was also highly inflamed. I then proceeded to the
stomachs, and I found the rumen fully distended with food—
VIZ., grass, leaves, pieces of chestnuts, sprigs of trees, etc.— with

^ Flerow. Curlt und Herhvig. Magazin, vol. iv. p. 2S3.

16 — 2

244 History of Animal Plagues.

a patch of slight inflammation on the cuticular coat, but not
fully developed. There was also a quantity of food in the
duodenum ; the termination of that and the commencement
of the jejunum were also inflamed ; and in the other intestines,
which were quite empty, I found patches of inflammation in
detached places. I believe there had existed an obstruction
in the bowels. The liver I found very much inflamed, particu-
larly on the concave surface of the right lobe, where there
were two or three enlargements of the ducts containing a
quantity of flukes. The heart was very much enlarged, and
the lungs exhibited patches of inflammation ; the kidneys
were in an unhealthy state. Lastly, I proceeded to the brain,
and observed between the tunica arachnoides and pia mater
patches of extravasation and inflammation, both on the
cerebrum and cerebellum. I did not observe anything peculiar
in the ventricles, nor in the spinal cord.

' The next subject I was shown was a live buck strongly
affected with the disease. He was recumbent when we ap-
proached him, looking wistfully round, and nibbling his side
near the abdomen, as if in violent pain. As I approached he
sprang up, looked very wildly, made a gurgling noise in the
throat, and bolted at the top of his speed over and against
everything in his course. We pursued him on horseback for
a considerable distance, and when we reached him we found
him near a stream, butting furiously against the ground,
foaming at his mouth, and apparently endeavouring to drink,
but I think he could not. As we neared him he bolted for-
ward again amongst the herd, still making this gurgling noise:
the herd immediately separated in great terror. We still
pursued him, and ultimately he was ordered to be shot for my
inspection. He was accordingly shot through the heart from
behind the left shoulder. I then proceeded to dissect and
examine him also, and found the appearances much the same,
excepting that the membrane lining the larynx was not so
highly inflamed as in the former subject.

' The park has been stocked with deer for the last fifty
years, so that it cannot be thought that the herbage had any
effect. A suspicion had arisen that they were poisoned, but

Period from A.D. 1830 to A.D. 1835. 245

from the slight appearance of inflammation in the stomach I
could not entertain that opinion ; yet I did not analyse the
contents of the rumen. There were Scotch cattle and sheep
grazing on the same herbage, but none of these have exhibited
the slightest symptoms of the disease. I should mention that
the practitioner I have spoken of had examined many brains
previously to my visit, and had found them all more or less
inflamed. The keeper told me that one of the diseased animals
had bitten him in the hand.'^

Influenza was epizootic among horses in England this year,
Mr. Spooner, of Southampton, writes : ' In the early part of
the summer of 1834 I had an opportunity of seeing its ravages,
chiefly amongst coach -horses, to a great extent. The weather
in May of that year, it will be remembered, was unusually hot,
and to this cause in great measure I attribute the spread of
the disease, as well as the peculiar character it then displayed.
The symptoms were almost invariably at first a failure in the
appetite, to which succeeded a dull and heavy appearance ;
and if the animal was put to work, it was with difficulty he
reached his journey's end. The pulse was found quicker than
common, sometimes slightly so, at other times in a greater
degree, and it was often full and distinct. In a very few hours
the symptoms all became greatly aggravated : the mouth felt
burning hot ; the eyes half closed ; the pulse increased fre-
quently ; and the appetite entirely gone. The mucous mem-
branes appeared highly injected, and the dung slimy. The
owner had had a great number of horses ill, the majority of
which had died. These cases occurred at a distance from my
residence, and were under the care of another practitioner. I
saw some of them, and examined a few after death. The
post-mortem appearances of these, as well as others that died
under my own care, invariably presented inflammation of the
mucous coat of the bowels ; this membrane, indeed, could be
rubbed off with the slightest touch. The liver in three cases
out of four was considerably affected, of a pale texture, and
easily broken down. The kidneys were very frequently ex-
tensively diseased, and in some cases their substance was

^ F, Good, The Veterinarian, vol. vii. p. 496.

246

History of Animal Plagues.

altogether disorganized. The windpipe and larynx, particu-
larly the latter, generally presented some degree of inflamma-
tion, but not to any great extent ; indeed, the inflammation of
these parts seemed to be of a secondary character, or otherwise
to have been relieved by the metastasies of the disease to
other parts. In some of the cases nearly all the lesions I have
mentioned were noticeable, presenting disease of four or five
organs, each of which would have apparently been sufficient
to have produced death.' ^

In Saxony, distemper was extremely widespread and fatal
among dogs, and they also suffered to a like degree from a
bilious fever and rabies.^

In Ireland it was reported : ' The sheep are suffering from
the rot, and large numbers of them dying' ^ in the counties of
Galway and Roscommon.

An epizooty appeared among swine in Aveyron and
its neighbourhood. It was rapidly fatal, often killing all the
inhabitants of a piggery in from twelve to fourteen hours,
often in less than half that time. The symptoms were sudden
loss of appetite, small and frequent pulse, haggard eyes,
inflamed conjunctivae, mouth open, red, and filled with foam ;
the respiration laborious ; the cries plaintive ; convulsions,
paralysis of the hinder extremities, and involuntary discharge
of highly foetid fseces. When these symptoms were present,
death was inevitable in a short time ; but when the disease
was less rapid, the symptoms were milder, and medical aid
was useful. Pregnant sows escaped the attacks, but as soon
as they had farrowed they lost their immunity, and they
and their young were seized. Leprous swine were exempted.
The epizooty appeared at all seasons of the year, but was
most malignant in the summer^ and autumn. Highly
contagious it was supposed to be, and from experiments then
made, it was found that /it could be reproduced in sheep
and other animals by. inoculation. The flesh when given to
dogs caused no ill*' effects. The causes were supposed to be

Sooner. On the Influenza of Horses, p. 15.
' Prinz. Clarus und Radius. Beitrage, vol. ii. p. 85.
* The Morning Register.

Period from A.D. 1830 to A.D. 1835. 247

unwholesome food, ill-ventilated sties, want of attention to
cleanliness ; and exposure to heat, wet, or cold, were supposed
to be predisposing causes. Some peculiar miasmatic influence
was believed to excite the development of the malady.^

A.D. 1835. An eruption of Mount Vesuvius. In England,
in the month of June, hail and thunder storms did much
damage, and in August the shock of an earthquake was felt in
the county of Lancaster. Earthquakes were very frequent on
the Continent, and caused much destruction of life and
property. A shower of meteorolites fell on the frontiers of
Wallachia. Epidemics were rife- among the human species
in Europe, and North and South America; cholera in
particular was fatal at Leghorn.

The diseases of the domestic animals were not very
uncommon or wide-spread. In Lithuania, in the years 1835
and 1836, the prevalent epizooties were haematuria, angina,
and contagious pleuro-pneumonia among cattle, variola among
sheep, and milzbrand— a disease which rages as the most
formidable malady every year in the Minsk Government.
Filaria in the bronchial tubes destroyed great numbers of
calves.2

In Eastern Prussia there were some unfavourable reports as
to the health of the lower animals. In Friedland and
Mohrunger, the milzbrand spared scarcely any class of
animals, and sheep were far more than usually attacked by
' raphania.' Swine perished in large numbers from a rapid
and deadly quinsy. Wild animals suffered equally with the
domestic, and according to Dr. Hansbrand, of Braunsberg, it
was a disease analogous to milzbrand which destroyed great
quantities of moose-deer. Dr. Glede, at Heilsberg, attributes
the frequent occurrence of milzbrand to the drought of 1834,
which dried up the ponds and water-courses, and caused
a scarcity of fodder. At the same time the animals employed
in agricultural operations were severely strained, in having to
plough up the scorched, hard-baked land. To these causes

were added the driving the cattle to the low-lying woody

J

^ Recueil de Med. Veter. 1834.

* Gurlt und Hertwig. Magazin, vol. vi. p. 447-

248 History of Animal Plagues.

pastures which had previously been marshy land, but were
now dried up, and these had sometimes to be reached by
taking them along dusty roads for two or three miles. But
other causes must have been at work, for Dr. Gisevius found
that in the parish of Elsau, even among those animals which
were kept in stable, cases of milzbrand were frequent, and that
the mortality was more considerable in this district than in
any other ; for out of one herd of one hundred and twenty-
eight cattle ten died in two nights, and in the village of
Porsitten out of a herd of seventy-one there died seven. In
this place the disease attacked the village herd, and nineteen
fatal cases occurred. This milzbrand attacked horses less
frequently than other animals, and though due, it was said, to
telluric and atmospheric influences, yet it was allowed that
contagion had much to do with its extension.

In August and September many geese died from a kind
of anthrax. In a village of Ortelsburg, according to the
report of Dr. Zuch, all the fowls and ducks, and no less
than three hundred geese, died suddenly, after suffering
for some days from violent diarrhoea. They often died
when eating with an apparently good appetite : they gave
a painful cry, bent their head and neck to the earth, threw
themselves upon their back, convulsively moved their feet
and wings, and died within eight or ten minutes. On
dissection the liver was found enlarged, and a remarkable
inflammation of the intestinal tract and brain was notice-
able.i

In Pomerania the health of the domestic animals was
satisfactory, though, owing to the drought, cows gave less
milk and were more difficult to fatten. Only towards the
close of the year were catarrhal and gastric diseases
remarked.

In Brandenburg, in January, abortions among cattle were
usually frequent in the brandy districts, in consequence of
the forage given them being mixed up with brandy lees.
During the frosty weather pigs died from throat-anthrax.
Rabies was prevalent among dogs in several districts in this

^ Sanitiitsbericht Konigsberger, 1S35.

Period from A.D. 1830 io A.D. 1835. 249

month. In February, small-pox and the foot disease raged
among sheep, and the lung disease in cattle. In March the
same diseases were prevalent. In April rheumatic inflamma-
tions, coughs and catarrh were prevalent, coincidently with
the foregoing disease. In May, in addition to the above-
mentioned diseases among sheep, horses were affected with
mange, and glanders. Lambs had tape-worms, and mad
dogs were still common. In June, small-pox was very rife
among sheep.

In July pleuro-pneumonia raged among cattle, and small-
pox and foot disease among sheep. Milzbrand was not unfre-
quent among cattle and swine. In August pleuro-pneumonia
was epizootic among cattle ; these animals also suffered, with
swine, from anthrax, and canine madness was yet frequent.
In .September acute rheumatism and laminitis were especiall}^
noted among horses, from over-feeding on new rye. Among
cows, there occurred that inflammation of the skin termed
grease, with foul exudations from the skin, which inflamma-
tion extended above the knees and hocks, and as far as the
udder ; it was accompanied by loss of milk and great emacia-
tion. Dysentery, foot disease, and ' turn-sick ' were common
among sheep. The lung disease yet raged among cattle, and
some mad dogs were seen. In October the lung disease
among cattle continued at Berlin, and a mortality appeared
among poultry, ducks, and other fowls. The lung disease
was still spreading among cattle. In November the foot
disease prevailed among sheep, the staggers among lambs,
and the pleuro-pneumonia among cattle. To such an extent,
indeed, did the latter malady prevail that an interdict was
placed upon cattle and fodder in the town of Bernau and
several villages. In December the lung disease continued in
some villages of the Frankfurt district, and the improved
flocks of sheep suffered from the foot disease. Sheep-pox
also showed itself in several places. .... As in former years,
the milzbrand appeared, though not so seriously as might
have been expected, and seemed to be more dependent on
the influence of the weather, only appearing in July and
disappearing when the cool season set in The fatal

250 History of Animal Plagues.

plagues which for some years have been observed to attack
poultry, showed [themselves again this year. Nothing could
be learned as to the nature or the causes of these maladies,
and therefore nothing could be devised in the way of pre-
ventive or remedial measures. The foot-and-mouth disease
and the epizootic ophthalmia which were so frequent and wide-
spread in previous years, were in this year very rare, and only
mentioned in the reports from two districts.^

In Prague it is recorded : ' No intelligence of unusual dis-
eases among the domestic animals was received, and the only
epizooty of any moment was the lung disease among cattle.
Among poultry I noticed anthracoid disease. In a house
where these animals were well cared for, fat capons and other
fowls died as if struck by lightning. The examination showed
in the plainest manner that they had perished from this affec-
tion. The blood was as black as a coal, and coagulated in the
veins of the abdominal organs ; the crop and stomach were
filled with soft, but undigested grain, and the lining mem-
brane of these organs was black and softened, and the bodies
had an extremely foul smell ; the muscles were pulpy and
dark-brown, and the muscles of the abdomen were overlaid
with yellow, gelatinous, unhealthy fat. According to reports,
on the 7th April anthrax disease broke out in several villages,
and a considerable number of poultry, geese, etc., died. It
may calm the public mind, however, to know that it is
impossible to sell these diseased animals in the town, for
immediately after death the flesh of the fowls becomes so
disorganized and bad-looking, and they have such a foul
odour, that the sellers are defeated in their object.' ^

In Saxony, Prinz reports : ' Among ruminants and swine,
the " foot-and-mouth disease," which had been so wide-spread
in the past year, did not recur in this, probably because the
traffic in foreign, and especially in Hungarian, swine was
stopped ; and also partly because the traders took more pre-
cautions, while the price of young home-fed pigs was much
depressed in consequence of the scarcity of food In

1 Sanitiitsbericht der Provinz Brandenburg, 1835.
» Clams und Radius. Beitrage, vol. iii. p. 105.

Period from A.D. 1830 to A.D. 1835. 251

January the epizootic diseases bore a catarrhal rheumatic
"character, particularly among dogs, and were complicated with
bilious affections. The prevalent maladies were catarrhal
fever, rheumatic ophthalmia, and colic among horses ; anginous
complaints among various classes of animals, and herpetic
eruptions among dogs and cats. In February the character
of the affections was more purely catarrhal, or only com-
plicated with disorders of the lymphatic system— so that
besides the feverish and inflammatory complaints, there
especially appeared among horses the so-called strangles
{druse) or angina, which was accompanied by the formation of
abscesses about the throat, and even under the chest and
abdomen. In March diseases bore the same character during
the first half of the month, but during ,the second half they
were of a catarrhal, rheumatic, and bilious type. Among
horses there appeared a bilious chest quinsy {brustbrdtcne),
or the so-called chest disease {brustseitche), which, in animals
already predisposed, was very fatal : sometimes by general
paralysis of the bloodvessels and decomposition of the blood,
sometimes by effusion and congestion of the blood in the
pleura, or sometimes by a determination of the blood towards
the kidneys, or even to the organs of generation, through the
medium of the lumbar vessels, or by internal haemorrhage
induced by rupture of the liver or spleen ; or it combined
itself with erysipelas of the skin, and then were developed
grease, thrush, and herpetic affections {flecJUeri). This
influenza, though it may have disappeared from the larger
stables, yet maintained itself in the smaller establishments of
the town and neighbourhood uiitil the month of August, and ,
even in December it recurred again. In April the operation
of the above-described constitution extended itself to cattle,
so that inflammation of the womb {metritis, gebdrmtitterbrand)
was not rare among cows after calving. In May the same
characteristics were predominant. In horses rheumatic colic
was frequent, and this rapidly passed into a gangrenous
inflammation of the mucous membrane of the intestines. This
phenomenon was also noted among poultry. In the months
of June and July there appeared, besides the above-named

252 History of Animal Plagues.

feverish and protracted affections, a mucous discharge from
the ears, nose, and vagina of many dogs. Glanders appeared
in four horses. In August and September catarrhal affections
still prevailed, but more of the digestive than of the respiratory-
passages. Vomiting and dysentery were prevalent, especially
among dogs ; among horses, colic ; and among all animals,
diarrhoea. In October and November the sickness was un-
important, and had no special characteristic. As, however, in
December winter weather set in, contrary to expectation, and
frequent changes of temperature were noticed, with alternating
winds and dampness, catarrhal rheumatic affections were
again rife, and among the horses of the large stables the pecu-
liarities and course of the spring influenza were again per-
ceptible.'^

For Austria, Knolz reports : ' The health of the working
domestic animals was not so satisfactory this year (1835) as
in the past year. The most destructive, and therefore the
epizooty which caused most uneasiness, was the rinderpest,
which raged in the districts bordering upon Moravia and
Hungary, in fourteen places, from the loth of May, 1835, to
the 30th January, 1836. Milzbrand was sporadic during the
excessive summer heat towards the end of July and beginning
of August, but in a very narrow circle. Among sheep variola
raged in ten localities.'^ (It was also prevalent in man-
kind.)

In Styria, Von Vest reports : 'Three persons were bitten by
a mad wolf in July, in the medical district of Windisch —
Feistritz. Of these, two died of hydrophobia fourteen days
afterwards. There was no epizooty of any importance among
domestic animals, with the exception of a bilious fever among
pigs. The few cases of milzbrand which occurred among
cattle, and of quinsy among pigs, were purely sporadic.'^

In the Tyrol, Ehrhart says that the epizootics were
contagious lung disease among cattle in the Upper and Lower
Innthal, and an inflammatory lung affection in the districts of

Prinz. C/ants und Radius. Beitrage, vol. iii. p. 113.
* Knolz. CEsterreich. Med. Jahrbuch, vol. xxv. p. 1S6. * Vest. Ibid.

Period fro^n A.D. 1830 to A.D. 1835. 253

Botzen and Tyrol^ In Dalmatia milzbrand and hsematuria
were epizootic among cattle, and rot and small-pox among
sheep.2 In Lombardy the 'foot disease,' 'mouth disease,'
milzbrand, and hsematuria, were the maladies prevalent among
the domestic animals. ^

On the 15th of February of this year, the government of
the Thurgau Canton ordered the destruction of all the foxes,
in consequence of rabies having appeared among them since
1834. 'One morning, towards the end of September, 1834, a
fox entered a field belonging to a farmer at Bischoffzell, and
seized the shepherd boy by the breeches and shook him ;
afterwards it attacked an ox, and was subsequently shot by
the farmer. In the beginning of October I shot a fox near
Neukirch. I was particularly struck with the behaviour of
this animal, and with its tameness ; for it either could not, or
would not, run away, and appeared to have partially lost the
use of its hind-legs. Johann Wartenweiler, of Schweirsholz,
found a fox near Bischoffzell, which he killed with his stick.
It could not drag its hind-legs after it. On removing the
skin, no trace of shot or other injury was visible. Two days
later, Joseph Diepold, of Hackborn, also found a dead fox,
which, however, he believed had been shot. Jacob M tiller, a
servant of the district judge Kropf von Buhweil, killed a fox
in the Sulgerau, in November, with his whip-stock. On
removing the skin, he found no trace of any injury beyond
that caused by himself On the 20th of November I found a
dead fqx in a morass near Buhweil, rolled up like a ball, and
frozen in the grass,. I examined it carefully, but found no
trace of any wound. It had several pieces of old wood in its
mouth, and had been seen by a woman ten days before at
Schonholzersweiler, gnawing old timber. The animal placed
itself in a threatening attitude towards this woman, and was
only driven off when her husband appeared. Lieutenant
Habisreutinger found a very large fox near Hosenruck, which
was lying dead in a ditch, and without any wounds. The
same gentleman shot a fox near Wuppenau, which showed a

^ Ehrhart. CEsterreich. Med. Jahrbuch, vol. xxv. p. 186.
2 Weber, Ibid. 3 Coinollu Ibid.

254

History of Animal Plagues.

disposition to bite his dog ; nothing abnormal was found
about this animal. Jacob Alispach, of Heiligenbrunn, Buhweil,
found a dead fox on the 3rd of December. On the removal
of the skin no trace of injury could be detected. Herr
Muller, in Sorrenthal, four weeks ago, shot a fox before the
doors of his factory, the animal having shown a disposition to
attack the work-people.'-^ In the Canton of Zurich rabies
was observed in a cat and a horse, and in Lausanne sheep
suffered from this disease.^

At Lyons and its neighbourhood, though the diseases of the
domestic animals were not very numerous, yet it is remarked
that bronchitis or pulmonary catarrh had attacked many
horses and dogs during the springtime and commencement of
the summer. It was not a simple affection, but was often
complicated with coryza and swelling of the submaxillary
glands, parotidean abscess, and angina. A mucous or gastric
fever also affected horses from the autumn until the spring,
and then the hot weather setting in, it assumed a new charac-
ter in the visible mucous membrane taking on an icteric or
bilious tint, and the disease then bearing all the symptoms of
a bilious fever.^

Becker, veterinary surgeon to the 8th regiment of Prussian
cavalry, observed an interesting epizooty of the so-called
' yellow ' or * bilious fever ' of dogs, in the valley of Luxem-
burg. His description is particularly worthy of notice, from
its bearing upon the great epizooty of i/'di, and Prinz's
description of the Dresden outbreak of 1827. He remarks
that epizootic inflammation of the liver is a disease which
frequently attacks dogs in southern climates, and particularly
those which have sudden alternations from damp and cold to
heat. His observations were made from April to August ;
when in the valley there was an oppressive sultry damp
temperature, and on the hills a cold penetrating wind and
chilling currents of air.* ^ _ ,

An epizooty appeared among fowls in Eastern Prussia, in

1 Habisreutmger. Archiv. f. Thierh. Schweiz. thieriirzt. vol. vii.

3 Recueil de Med, Veter. vol. xiii. p. i.

* Becker. Magazin fiir die gesammtc Thierheilkunde. 1838.

2 Ibid.

Period from A.D. 1830 to A.D. 1835. 255

the districts of Rosenburg and Strasbourg, which destroyed
many geese in the months of August and September.

In France a similar disease was prevalent, * From the
month of October, 1835, we were aware that in many com-
munes in the neighbourhood of Alfort a remarkable mortality
among poultry had declared itself ; many proprietors having
assured us that they had lost great quantities even before they
knew they were ill. But from the following month we heard
no more of this fatality, and it was not until the end of March
and the commencement of April of this year (1836) that
we learned the disease had recommenced, and until the
month of October it had made great ravages. We have also
been informed, by the letters addressed to us, that during the
months of March and April last it has reigned in many of
the communes of the departments of the Seine, the Seine-
et-Oise, the Eure-et-Loire, the Seine-et-Marne, etc. ... It
attacked all fowls, yet the hens appeared to be much more
easily and frequently affected than the ducks or geese ; the
pigeons were not often affected. The invasion of the disease
was sudden — so much so, that a fowl often died before anyone
had time to suspect it of being ill. In some instances the
disease lasted for some hours, or even for a day ; but its ter-
mination was always fatal, except in very rare cases. When
a sick fowl was observed, the following were the symptoms :
slow movements, dulness, diminution of the appetite, or some-
times complete loss of it ; ardent thirst, and the animal often
seeking to appease it ; the wings trailing on the ground, the
head carried low, and the neck flaccid ; the crest a little
darker in colour than usual ; nothing particular in the defeca-
tions. In some localities, among all the fowls affected there
has been observed a particular noise in the breathing. After
these symptoms — which in some cases only last a few minutes,
in others some hours — succeed the phenomena of coma and
complete insensibility ; the crop, distended by the last-ingested
food, protrudes beyond the breast, and becomes the most
certain symptom of approaching death ; indeed, death takes
place very promptly, and without much struggling. Many
people have remarked that the affected fowls die much more

256 History of Animal Plagues.

frequently during the night than the day. With the ducks,
geese, and pigeons the disease offers pretty much the same
symptoms ; only in its duration is there any difference, it
lasting longer in them than in hens. An examination of many
fowls which have died from the disease discloses the following
results : The flesh and the fatty tissues are a little discoloured,
but yet firm enough ; the crest is a bright-red, and not a dark-
violet colour, as in many other epizootics ; no matters flow
from the natural apertures. The mucous membrane of the
oesophagus and the crop are much reddened, and the last-
named receptacle is filled with grains or other aliment which
has undergone no alteration. The succenteric ventricle shows
less redness than the crop, and contains no food. The gizzard
is, as is usual in health, full of grains and small pebbles ; its
walls do not offer any alteration. Some faint red patches are
observed in the intestinal tube. Nothing particular is found
in the oviduct, nor yet in the organs of generation. The
lungs in some animals appear infiltrated with a blood-coloured
serosity, yet when put in water they float. There is no notable
alteration in the heart, pericardium, liver, etc. The brain is
pale, and looks infiltrated. All that we can say regarding its
etiology is, that if, as all are inclined to believe, it is due to
general causes, the same as other epizootics, some particular
circumstances singularly influence its development ; for in
some localities it is far more severe where the fowls have been
exposed to damp and bad management, and, above all, where
they have nothing to drink but foul water, the drainings of
dung-pits, than where they have been subjected to an opposite
treatment.' 1

In the month of May, 1836, Dupuy observed an epizooty
among geese near Toulouse. The post-mortem appearances
were : A large number of circular patches of variable extent
in the rectum, varying in size from that of a lentil to a five-
sous piece, and projecting about a line beyond the surface of
the mucous membrane. The other portions of this membrane
were remarkable for the great development of its villosities.
The whole of the intestinal canal from the gizzard was full of
1 Recueil de Med. Veter. vol. xiii. p. 300.

Period from A.D. 1830 to A.D. 1835. 257

puriform mucosities, and did not contain any food. The liver
was of a bright rose-colour, but preserved its ordinary con-
sistency.i

Some months before the cholera broke out at Munich,
during the summer, a fatal disease appeared among the geese
of an extensive breeder in that town, of which three hundred
died. When the cholera arrived, this man and his family
were attacked, and one hundred and forty-two geese perished.
The best-conditioned birds, in returning from feeding, fell, and
were unable to rise again, evacuated by the anus a white or
greenish fluid, and usually succumbed in about a quarter of
an hour.2

An interesting epizooty is recorded as appearing among
the horses of the Queen's regiment of cavalry at Naples. It
is thus described by Mr. Cantiello, the veterinary surgeon of
the regiment: 'Pneumonia, or inflammation of the lungs, has
been often and well described by veterinary surgeons ; but
there was a peculiarity about that which prevailed during the
last year (1835) which deserves to be recorded. It was sadly
prevalent and fatal, and a great many of the horses that were
attacked by it died in a very short space of time. During
the month of October, 1835, the greater part of the horses
belonging to the Queen's regiment of cavalry were suddenly
attacked by an epidemic disease, and they were generally the
youngest and those in highest condition that first failed. The
earliest symptom, and very sudden in its appearance, was
great difficulty of respiration and total loss of appetite. The
labour of breathing was sometimes so great, that the animal
was apparently threatened with suffbcation ; the legs seemed
to be cramped ; the hind-legs were immovable ; the posterior
part of the frame appeared to be paralyzed, and when the
animal \vas forced to move, the legs could scarcely sustain
his weight. The mouth was open, and its membrane of
a dark colour, almost approaching to black. The labour of
breathing rapidly increased ; the flanks beat violently' ; the
nostrils were dilated ; the tongue and palate dry and hp't,^ and

'^Journal de Med. V^ter. theoret. et pratique, vol, vii.
Kopp. Cholera-Epidemic in Munchen, p, 169.

17

258 History of Animal Plagues.

of a still darker hue ; the breath hot and foetid ; the conjunc-
tival membrane deeply injected ; the pupil dilated, the ears
pendent and cold, and the veins of the face distended.
There were other peculiarities : the tail was immovable, the
mane coming off at the slightest touch ; the hair erect ; the
skin dry, and adhering to the subjacent parts ; the urine small
in quantity ; the bowels constipated ; the extremities cold ;
cold sweats about the flanks and scrotum ; erection of the
penis, and general immobility of the animal. The pulse was
hard, and little developed at first, but it soon became full and
strong. To these symptoms soon supervened a foetid
discharge from the nose, the breath also becoming still more
foetid ; the mouth and body generally cold ; the countenance
of the animal having a piteous expression ; the hair standing
on end ; the head depressed ; the pupils dilated, and the eyes
fixed. The pulse now became small, intermitting, and soft ;
the perspiration at the flanks ceased, and death evidently
approached. Little could be prognosticated with regard to
the duration of the disease, from either the nature or the
succession of the symptoms. Some horses died on the third,
others on the fourth, and others not until the eighth day from
the first attack. There were many, however, which did not
survive the first day; and some, while they were feeding, and
with every appearance of health about them, dropped and
died as if from apoplexy.

' Post-mortem Appearances. — The mucous membrane of the
trachea and bronchi was ulcerated, eroded, and filled with
pus. The bronchial glands were enlarged, and turgid with
blood, or sometimes suppurating. The substance of the lungs-
was hepatized and enlarged, and then ulcerated, and softened
so that it might be torn with the greatest ease. Its exposed
cells were filled either with serous fluid, or with grumous blood
and purulent matter, of almost a black colour. The inflamma-
tion extended to the pleura, and even to the pericardium and
diaphragm. In every lingering case effusion was discovered
in the thorax. These lesions sufficiently proved that the
disease was essentially inflammation of the lungs, had the
difficult breathing, the peculiar character of the pulse, the

Period from A.D. 1830 to A.D. 1835. 259

coldness of the extremities, and the attitude and motion of
the patient left any doubt on the subject. . . .

' Causes. — It may appear singular to some readers that I take
this division of my subject last ; but I must confess that
I have no certain proof with regard to the cause. It arose not
from any peculiarity of temperament, of situation, or of food.
This v\^as put most strictly to the test. The water, and the
provender, as well green as dry, were scrupulously examined,
and proved to be altogether without fault. There was no
unusually hard work, no want of cleanliness in the stables.
The disease was, however, very materially connected with the
situation of the stables. It was confined to those horses alone
that were exposed to the mountain wind, and the wind blew
with unusual coldness and violence from the mountains at that
time. This might be taken as a predisposing cause ; it might,
as frequently as otherwise, be the exciting cause. In many
places in the country, where there was the same exposure to
these winds, there were similar diseases ; and as soon as the
wind changed, and the weather became milder, the disease
gradually declined, and at length ceased altogether. In cases
of a milder form we can often readily trace this atmospheric
agency, and the vital organs are not exempt.' 1

There was a disease among fresh-water fish during this
and the two following years. The following is the account
furnished by Mr. Thompson : ' I have been informed by Mr.
Wm. Todhunter, formerly resident at Portumna, on the
banks of Lough Derg (Galway), that about the 20th of June,
1835, three eagles visited the shores 0/ that lake, attracted
apparently by immense quantities of perch, which, with some
trout and pike, ascended in a sick state to the surface of the
water and died there. Early in the month of July, in 1836
and 1837, when the fish likewise died in numbers, two eagles
visited the place, and continued a similar time. In 1838, but
few fish died, and the eagles, which made their appearance
about the end of July, stayed but for a short period. My
informant attributed the fatality of the fish to the " hot

^V. Cantiello. The Veterinarian, vol xii. (1839), p. 176. Giornale delle utill.
« t-onoscenze. Napoli, 1836.

17 — 2

26o

History of Animal Plagues.

weather," stating that where they died the water was but from
one to three feet in depth, and consequently would be much
acted on by the heat. The lake generally is shallow, its
average depth being about eight feet, and there is no apparent
current through it,' i To this is added the following note :
'This fatality was probably owing to an extraordinary
diminution of the proportion of oxygen in the water of the
lake. MM. Aug. and Ch. Morren, in their most interesting
" Recherches sur la Rubdfaction des Eaux et leur Oxygenation
par les Animalcules et les Algues," state, to quote the words
used in noticing their memoir in the "Annals of Natural
History," vol. xii. p. 207, that " At times they have found the
proportion (of oxygen) so low as eighteen, nineteen, or twenty
per cent, and the consequence has been the destruction of the
greater part of the fish by asphyxia. On the i8th of June,
1835 (the very time when the fatality was greatest in Lough
Derg), the greater part of the fish in the Maine perished from
this cause ; and the same circumstance was observed twice in
the pond, which first directed the attention of the authors to
the subject of the memoir." '

An earthquake at Concepcion, South America, and great
death of fish. ' At the time of the ruin, and until after the
great waves, the water in the bay appeared to be everywhere
boiling ; bubbles of air, or gas, were rapidly escaping ; the
water also became black, and exhaled a most disagreeable
sulphureous smell. Dead fish were afterwards thrown ashore
in quantities ; they seem to have been poisoned, or suffocated ;
and for days together the shores of the bay were covered with
fine corvinos, and numerous small fish.'^ Many cattle were
rolled down the sides of the steep mountains into the sea and
drowned.^

The same observer informs us that hydrophobia was very
prevalent in Northern Chili. When in the valley of Copiapo
he writes : ' An order had recently been issued that all
stray dogs should be killed, and we saw many carcases

1 Thompson. Natural History of Ireland, vol. i. p. 25.

2 Fitzroy. Voyages of the Adventurer and Beagle, vol. ii. p. 410.

3 Darwin. Ibid. vol. iii. p. 370-

Period from A.D. 1830 to A.D. 1835. 261

lying on the high-road." A great number had lately been
affected with hydrophobia, and several men had been bitten,
and had died in consequence. On other occasions hydro-
phobia has prevailed in this valley.'^ He then adds: 'It is
remarkable thus to find so strange and dreadful a disease
appearing time after time in the same isolated spot. It has
been remarked that certain villages in England are in like
manner more subject to this visitation than others. Hydro-
phobia must be extremely rare on the eastern side of the
Andes, for Azara thought it was unknown in America ; ^ and
Ulloa says the same with respect to Quito.^ I could not
hear of a case having occurred in Van Diemen's Land, or in
Australia ; and Burchell says, during the five years he was at
the Cape of Good Hope, he never heard an instance of it.*
Webster again asserts that at the Azores, hydrophobia has
never occurred ;^ and the same observation has been made
with respect to Mauritius,^ and St. Helena. In so strange a
disease some information might possibly be gained by con-
sidering the circumstances under which it originates in distant
climates.'

Burchell's statement is as follows : ' The hydrophobia, or
canine madness, is unknown in these regions ; and indeed in
the whole of the southernmost part of Africa. Even in the
Cape Colony this dreadful disorder is so rare, that I never
heard of an instance of it during the five years of my being
in that part of the globe.' This evidence appears to be cor-
roborated by that of other writers. A Dutch traveller'^ at the
Cape of Good Hope, in the beginning of this century, alludes
to the dogs there : ' The English have brought over New-
foundland dogs, as well as others of the large and hardy
breeds ; but it appears as if the climate will not agree with
them, since it is universally observed that they are soon seized
with a sort of murrain, from which very few recover. Mr.

^ Dai-win. "Voyages of the Adventurer and Beagle, vol. iii. p. 436.

Azara. Travels, vol. i. p. 381. ^ Ulloa. Voyage, vol. ii. p. 28.

* Bttrchell. Travels in Southern Africa, vol. ii. p. 524.
^ Webster. Description of the Azores, p. 124.
« Voyage i ITsle de France. Par un Officier du Roi. vol. i. p. 248.
'' Lichtenslein. Travels in Southern Africa. London, 1815, p. 14.

262 Histoiy of Animal Plagues.

Duckett, a well-informed English agriculturist, has made
many experiments to introduce other breeds of dogs, but they
have uniformly failed. It is very remarkable that no example
of madness among the dogs ivas ever known in the colony ; an
additional proof that this disease does not so much originate
in the temperature of the atmosphere, as in other properties
belonging to the climate.' Livingstone! also adds his testi-
mony : ' In conversation with some of my friends here (South
Africa), I learned that Maleke, a chief of the Bakwains, who
formerly lived on the hill Litubaruba, had been killed by the
bite of a mad dog. My curiosity was strongly excited by
this statement, as rabies is so rare in this country. I never
heard of another case, and could not satisfy myself that this
was real hydrophobia. While I was at Mabotsa some dogs
became affected by a disease which led them to run about in
an incoherent state, but I doubt whether it was anything but
an affection of the brain. No individual or animal got the
complaint by inoculation from the animals' teeth ; and from
all that I could hear, the prevailing idea of hydrophobia not
existing within the tropics seems to be quite correct'

For West Africa we have the evidence of M. du Chaillu
' Though most of the West African villages have crowds of
dogs, I never could learn of a case of hydrophobia, nor did
the natives even know of such a disease as madness in dogs.'
Elsewhere, at a later period, he confirms the truth of this
observation by quite recent experience, and adds that heat
cannot be adduced as a cause of the malady, else it would be
prevalent in that part of the world.^ Mr. Clarke,* in 1861,
says of the Gold Coast: 'During the whole period of my
service in West Africa, no instance of hydrophobia occurred,
although hundreds of half-starved mangy curs patrol the
streets of the towns and villages on the Gold Coast, and at
Sierra Leone.' For the Northern Hejaz, Arabia, we find
Burton'' writing : ' Hydrophobia is rare, and the people have

''Travels and Researches in South Africa, p. 127.

^ Explorations and Adventures in Equatorial Africa. London, 1861, p. 221.

* Journey to Ashango Land.

* TopograjDhy and Diseases of the Gold Coast, p. 48.

Burton. A Pilgrimage to El Medinali and Meccah, vol. i. p. 372,

Period fro7n A.D. 1830 to A.D. 1835. 263

many superstitions about it. They suppose that a bit of
meat falls from the sky, and that the dog who eats it becomes
mad. I was assured by respectable persons, that when a
man is bitten, they shut him up with food in a solitary
chamber for four days, and that if at the end of that time he
still howls like a dog, they expel the Ghul (devil) from him
by pouring over him boiling water mixed with ashes — a
certain cure I can easily believe.' The disease has been
witnessed in North Africa. Volney^ asserted that it was
unknown in Egypt, but in recent times it has been seen in
that country by Dr. Pruner.2 In Algeria it was extremely
rare during the first ten years of the French occupation ; now
it is very frequent.^

Larrey and Professor Alpinus say it was not known in
Syria ; but in the present time this is not correct, for while I
was at Damascus and Beyrout, in 1867, I made frequent
inquiries, and was informed that the malady sometimes caused
much mischief. When a person chanced to be bitten, he was
shut up in a room, given but little food, and not allowed to
look upon any red-coloured object ; after a certain number of
days he was immersed in cold water, and then permitted to
go at large.

With regard to the Mauritius, Pridham,* so late as 1846,
when speakirg of the dogs of that island, adds : ' It is said
they have never been known to go mad in this island.' But
since that period it is stated that this frightful disease has
been imported thence from Bengal.^ We have, however,
shown that the malady was imported in 181 3.

Hydrophobia is a somewhat common disease in India. The
Hon. Mountstuart Elphinstone,^ when describing Afghanistan
and its climate, says of the pestilential wind — the simoom :
' This wind is said to blast trees in its passage ; and the
hydrophobia which affects the wolves, jackals, and dogs in
some parts of the country is attributed to it.'

1 Voliiey. Voyage en Syrie el en Egypte. Paris, 1787.

^ Die Krankheiten des Orientes, 1847.

^Boudin. Geographic, etc., Medicales, 1857.

^ Pridha7n. The Mauritius and its Dependencies, vol. i. p. 237,

" Friorep. Notizen, No, 48.

" Account of the Kingdom of Caubul, vol. i. p. 185.

264 History of Animal Plagues.

Mr. Marsdeni remarks of the dog in the great island of
Sumatra : ' Those brought from Europe lose in a few years
their distinctive qualities, and degenerate at length into the
cur with erect ears, Kuyn, vulgarly called the " pariah dog."
An instance did not occur of anyone going mad during the
period of my residence. Many of them are affected with a
kind of gonorrhoea.'

In Ceylon, hydrophobia sometimes rages very extensively,
and hyaenas are frequently affected.^ Forbes » writes : ' The
native doctors acknowledge their inability to cure hydro-
phobia, saying they can heal the bites, but the gods must do
the rest. Three months is the time, after which they consider
anyone safe who has been bitten by a mad dog. ... At
one time, when mad dogs were very numerous in the Matale
district, mad jackals were also to be met with ; and two men
who had lain down to rest in an open shed were severely
bitten by a jackal, which, from their description, was evidently
in a rabid state. As these men were travellers, I did not learn
their fate ; but I have known an instance of a horse dying
from the bite of a mad jackal. One day, in that same season,
I discovered that three terriers, which I had inherited from the
commandant who preceded me, were wandering about the
house, all of them suffering from hydrophobia, and one of

them so far gone as to be unable to close his mouth

They were destroyed without having done any mischief. A
few days after this, a servant standing near the door of a room
in which my family were sitting, seeing a strange dog rushing
in, snatched up a rice-pounder, which fortunately lay within
his reach, and killed the animal at a blow ; soon after, a half-
armed crowd appeared, and recognised this as the mad dog
of which they were in pursuit. It was about the same time
that, when riding out one evening, I met a moorman who had
been severely lacerated by a mad dog ; but the wounds healed
up in about three weeks.' This man died about six weeks
afterwards.*

^ Marsden. History of Sumatra, p. 115. -Pridham. Op. cit.

^ Eleven Years in Ceylon, vol. i. p. 363.

* The dread of this malady causes the authorities to resort to a cruel mode of
extermination of this devoted creature. Tennent notices this : ' There is no native

Period from A.D. 1830 to A.D. 1835. 265

Hydrophobia is oftentimes prevalent in North and South
China. While I was stationed with the British Army of
Occupation at Tientsin, North China, in 1860-61, several
cases of the disease occurred in the human species.

We have already seen that Peru was visited by this
formidable malady in 1803, and that in North America it was
well known, as well as in other parts of that region of the
world. Spix and Martius speak of its being observed in
Brazil, though rarely.^ A very recent observer in Mexico, M.
Liguistin,^ in his notes on that countiy, gives us the following
remarks : 'Rabies, thought not very frequent in Mexico, is yet
known there. It has been seen from time to time, particularly
in the dog and cat species. It is a matter of public notoriety
that rabies attacks by preference European dogs just imported
into the country. For ourselves especially, since we have
been in Mexico, we have had occasion to kill two European
dogs which were affected with confirmed rabies, in a period of
three months. The first of these animals belonged to Marshal
Bazaine, and exhibited all the characteristic symptoms of
primitive or spontaneous madness. The other belonged to
an officer on the staff, and became hydrophobic in conse-

wild dog in Ceylon, but every village and town is haunted by mongrels of European
descent, which are known by the generic name of Pariahs. They are a miserable
race, acknowledgea by no owners, living on the garbage of the streets and sewers,
lean, wretched and mangy, and if spoken to unexpectedly shrinking with an almost
involuntary cry. Yet in these persecuted outcasts there survives that germ of
instinctive affection which binds the dog to the human race, and a gentle word,
even a look of compassionate kindness, is sufficient foundation for a lasting attach-
ment. The Singhalese, from their religious aversion to taking away life in any
form, permit the increase of these desolate creatures, till in the hot season they
become so numerous as to be a nuisance ; and the only expedient hitherto devised
by the civil government to reduce their numbers is once in each year to offer a
reward for their destruction, when the Tamils and Malays pursue them in the
streets with clubs (guns being forbidden by the police for fear of accidents), and
the unresisting dogs are beaten to death on the side-paths and door-steps, where
they had been taught to resort for food. Lord Torrington, during his tenure of
office, attempted the more civilized experiment of putting some check on their
numbers by imposing a dog-tax, the effect of which would have been to lead
to the drowning of puppies ; whereas there is reason to believe that dogs are
at present bred by the horse-keepers to be killed for the sake of the reward,'—
'Ceylon,' vol. i. p. 144.
^ Travels in Brazil, vol. ii.

' Annales de Mdd. Vetcr, Militaire, vol. v. December, 1866.

266

History of Animal Plagues.

quence of a bite it had received from the first-mentioned dog
some days before it was killed.' This writer gives three very
interesting cases of rabies in mankind, two of which were cured
by the extract of ' huaco,' a native plant.

In the coldest regions this much-dreaded malady would
appear to be somewhat unfrequent, if not altogether absent.
A recent observer believes it to be uncommon in Sweden :
' Distemper is as common among dogs here as in England,
but it takes a rather different form. Madness is, I fancy, rare;
but the regulations respecting loose dogs in the town are very
stringent during the summer season.'^ In Greenland and
Kamtschatka it is said to be quite unknown. Erman,^ de-
scribing the Ostyaks of Siberia and their dog-sledges, notices
this fact : ' Madness among the dogs would be in this country
a most formidable scourge, and would infallibly cause the de-
struction of whole races of men ; but everyone here (Obdorsk)
assured us that the disease is wholly unknown to them.
Steller has stated the same thing respecting the dogs of
Kamtschatka ; so that hydrophobia would seem to be one of
the European (?) results of living in towns. One essential and
unfailing distinction between the dogs of Siberia and those of
Europe, lies in the very moderate food of the former ; whence
it might be inferred that it is excess, and not want, which
generates the morbid habit.'

Dr. Kane, in 1854, when frozen up in the Arctic regions
(lat. 78° 41'), alludes to a disease appearing among his dogs,
which much resembled hydrophobia. The description he
gives of the symptoms is very interesting. The absence of
light during the long intense darkness and cold of the Arctic
winter may have been a cause in exciting the morbid disposi-
tion which proved fatal to many of these animals, no fewer
than fifty-seven having perished.^ Mr. McDougall also speaks
of the dogs belonging to the Resolute, in the Arctic regions
in 1853, having serious fits, none of which, however, proved
fatal.*

J Ten Years in Sweden. By an Old Bushman, p. 169.
^ Travels in Siberia, vol. ii. p. 34.

^Kane. Arctic Explorations, vol. i. pp. 106, 123, 156, 163, 459.
'^McDougall. Voyage of H.M.S. Resolute to the Arctic Regions, pp. 369, 376.

26;

CHAPTER IV.

PERIOD FROM A.D. 1836 TO A.D. 1840.

A.D. 1836. In England the spring months were stormy. In
October one of the most splendid of those phenomena known
as the aurorae boreales, or northern lights, was visible one
evening. Insects were, unusually prevalent over the whole of
Europe. In England, Dr. Holland says: 'In October, 1836,
a vast swarm of minute aphides (whether one of the numerous
species was not ascertained) passed over a wide district in
Cheshire, Derbyshire, and the southern parts of Lancashire
and Yorkshire. The air was so thickly filled with them that
the clothes and faces of persons walking out of doors were
completely covered. When getting into the eyes they excited
considerable inflammation. The height to which the column
reached could not be known. From the best observations in
one locality, its superficial extent must have been at least
twelve miles in one direction by five miles in another ; but
the detached notices from other places make it certain that
the continuous swarm was much more widely spread. No
sufficient comparison appears to have been made of local
observations to furnish proof as to the rate and direction of
movement ; but it is worthy of notice that the town of Man-
chester was infested by these insects for two or three successive
days. Wherever generated, or by whatsoever instinct carried
on, there is cause to suppose that the swarm was in a ti'ansit
from one place to another, and possibly brought nearer to the
earth by some peculiar state of atmosphere existing at the
time.'i These creatures appear to have made their appear-

' Holland. Medical Notes and Reflections, second edition, p. 587.

268

History of Animal Plagues.

ance in Germany at the beginning of the year. It is reported
from Schandau, near Dresden : ' A very strange phenomenon
was observed in the month of January, which month was re-
markable for its dense clouds brought by the south-west wind.
Millions of small black insects appeared everywhere, lying
thickly upon the snow, covering the roads, or swimming upon
the brooks. They disappeared with the cold weather and the
north winds of February ; there could not be a doubt but that
the south-west winds brought them also.'^ In Wurtemberg
the maybug was a perfect pest, and grasshoppers were frequent
invaders.

Towards the end of this and the beginning of the next year,
the great European influenza raged among mankind. It broke
out .suddenly after a heavy snowstorm and a sudden thaw. In
England and Scotland horses suff"ered severely from an epi-
zooty, which was also termed influenza. ' Influenza has been
very prevalent in this part of the country (Carmarthen) for
these last three years, and great numbers of horses have been
swept off by it on the borders of Cardiganshire and Pembroke-
shire ; that partof the country being much exposed to damp and
to fogs, and the farmers rather poor, which latter circumstance
has caused many an animal to be lost through want of proper
treatment. In 1834 and 1835 it made its appearance only in
the spring and fall ; but in the present year scarcely a week
has passed in which I have not had several fresh cases. The
first symptom which I usually observe is a dead, unhealthy
appearance of the coat ; the head hanging under the manger ;
the eyes nearly closed, and filled with tears ; the ears and legs
cold ; the mouth dry and feverish ; the pulse accelerated to
about 55 to 60 in a minute ; the dung voided in small quan-
tities ; loss of appetite ; the membranes of the nose much
reddened, and generally accompanied by a discharge of yellow
viscid matter ; sore throat, swelled legs, great debility, and
sometimes considerable cough.'^ ' This epidemic disorder has
for several months past been very prevalent in this neighbour-
hood. The principal features have been inflammation and

- ^Petruz. Clarus und Radhis. Beitrage, vol. iv. p. 331.
2 Gutieridge. The Veterinarian, vol. ix.

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 269

tumefaction about the eyes, with considerable effluxion running
down the cheeks ; the head drooping ; the mouth hot and
dry ; the animal is off his feed — in short, there has been con-
siderable fever ; the flanks were tucked up ; the pulse quick-
ened more or less ; the legs swelled, and in some cases very
painful to the touch ; a general stiffness of the whole muscular
system prevailed, accompanied by extreme weakness, a great
disinclination to turn in the stall, or to go through a door-
way, unless it was large and the threshold low. If relief was
not obtained at the outset, every symptom assumed a more
intense character. There was usually increased fever or in-
flammation of the brain in particular ; the nervous influence
was more or less suspended ; the animal quite staggered in
his attempt to move, and now and then fell down.'^

In Scotland the disease is more lengthily described by
Professor Stewart, of Glasgow : ' For three or four months
back the influenza has been very prevalent all over the west
of Scotland. In the east, I understand, it has been compara-
tively scarce. In this quarter we are never entirely quit of it
at any time. During the first nine or ten months of 1836 the
cases were much more numerous than usual ; but in November,
December, and January the disease raged to an unexampled
extent. It suddenly invaded stables in all parts of the town ;
and wherever it appeared it generally spread over the whole
stud. Some escaped, but not many. It is now on the de-
cline (March, 1837) ; the last fortnight has afforded few cases.
As it has prevailed here and hereabout, the influenza is not a
new disease. It is the same influenza that we always have,
especially in spring and in autumn. If it was not contagious
before, it is so now ; but its increased or its new tendency to
spread does not entitle us to regard it as a strange disease.
There may be a little difference, but the resemblance is
general. The disease has been very common in the country,
but not so generally contagious. In some stables there has
been only one patient ; but in the town, all, or nearly all, the
horses have been attacked wherever the d isease has been in-
troduced. There are two kinds of influenza. In both the

^ Rccson (Amersham). The Veterinarian, vol. ix.

270

History of Ani77zal Plagues.

horse is fevered ; in both there is inflammation of the mucous
membranes ; and in both the fever, or some other abnormal
state of the system — which I shall call pre-febrile — precedes
or follows the inflammation. In the one kind the inflamma-
tion attacks the eyes, the nostrils, or the throat ; it is confined
to the head, and may be termed the cephalic influenza. In
the other kind there is inflammation in the lining membrane
of the bronchi ; this may be called the thoracic influenza.

' pre-febrile stage is very often overlooked or neglected.
I have never seen it described. For two^ three, or four days,
and occasionally for so many as eight, the horse is dull, feeble,
sluggish, staggering in his gait ; his coat is dry, and it starts
on end after drinking, or upon the least exposure to cold ; he
sweats soon ; a little exertion quickens the breathing ; the
pulse is very little if at all altered ; the eye and nostrils are
not redder (often they are paler) than usual ; the horse eats
his corn, but refuses a part or all of his hay ; he is eager for
water ; when closely watched in the stable, he may be ob-
served to yawn frequently ; and at intervals he makes a deep
inspiration, like a sigh. These are the first symptoms. Their
duration is uncertain ; it varies from one to eight days, but in
general there is a change on the third or fourth. Fever suc-
ceeds, accompanied or soon followed by inflammation. What
is going on in this pre-febrile stage cannot be told. In vulgar
language, the disease is said to be working or brewing ; and
I know not that science can give a more expressive name. I
have sometimes thought I could detect inflammation lurking
about the throat or the bronchi. The throat, at least, is often
tender, and the nasal membrane flushed, immediately before
the fever is developed. Rigor, as an antecedent of influenza,
has not, to my recollection, come under my notice for two or
three months.

' The febrile symptoms are well known. The hot mouth, hot
surface, quick pulse, scanty secretions from the bowels, kidneys,
mouth, skin, lungs, and other organs ; the flushed eye and the
scarlet nostril ; the prostration of strength, and the aversion
to food, require no description. When these symptoms arc
present the horse is fevered. They belong to all fevers ; but

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 271

in influenza, especially the thoracic influenza, the debility is
excessive and characteristic. The horse is weak from the
beginning, and debility increases as the disease advances.
The fever is seldom, perhaps never, fully developed till in-
flammation is established ; but in some cases the inflammation
is not apparent, possibly it does not exist, till the horse is
fevered for one or two days. In some the fever comes on very
suddenly, runs high, and soon reaches its acme ; in others, it
advances by slow degrees, and is not fully developed till after
four, five, or six days. In these cases the febrile commotion
is not generally so great as in the others, but convalescence is
slower. In a great number of cases the horse is so slightly
fevered that he requires no medical treatment. In one stable
there were above fourteen horses attacked. Eight or ten of
these did a portion or the whole of their usual work, which
was slow and not very laborious. They all lost flesh very
rapidly, and were, indeed, shamefully emaciated. The fever
was gone when a practitioner was called to treat the emaciation.
They recovered, however, some of them receiving cordials and
continuing their work. Some of the others were bled ; one
or two were laid up ; but I believe the result would have been
nearly or quite the same although nothing had been done.
The disease was in a mild form, and there have been veiy
many cases of the same kind.

Progress of Cephalic Inflitenza. — The pre-febrile stage is of
short duration ; very often it is not observed ; perhaps it does
not always occur ; sometimes a shivering fit is the immediate
and possibly the only antecedent of the fever. The fever itself
is suddenly developed, accompanied, or rapidly followed by in-
flammation of the eye, the nostril, or the throat — one or all. The
conjunctiva becomes intensely red, the eyelid swollen, everted,
closed ; tears run down the face, and light is painful. This in-
flammation of the conjunctiva is never permanently injurious.
It usually declines as rapidly as it rises. When the nasal
membrane is inflamed, it becomes red or scarlet ; water flows
from the nostrils, and scalds the skin. In two or three cases
there have been patches of ecchymosis, and, though not lately
abrasions and ulcerations, all, I suppose, arising from intense

272 History of Animal Plagues.

inflammation. It frequently proceeds to suppuration, producing
a copious discharge, which is generally yellow, but sometimes
greenish or bloody, and offensive. So soon as suppuration is
•established, the fever declines, and the horse recovers his
strength and spirits almost immediately. The discharge has
sometimes continued for several weeks, but has been permanent
in none. . . . When the throat is inflamed, there is cough, or
■difficulty in swallowing ; one or both, with or without enlai'ge-
ment of the parotids. In two cases the pharynx alone seemed
to be inflamed. Deglutition was suspended, but there was no
cough. When the larynx is the principal or sole seat of in-
flammation, the cough is distressing, but free and loud. It
often remains for a long time. Several have it now that are
at work and quite well. I feel that in some of them it is
settled. In several cases the eye, throat, and nostrils have all
been intensely inflamed at the same time. But in general one
has been much worse than the other two. Of late, the in-
flammation of cephalic influenza has attacked the nostrils and

the throat more, a great deal, than the eye The cephalic

influenza is often combined with the thoracic, or the latter
follows the former. Still, each occurs as an individual disease.
I have never seen the cephalic produce death. But if the
horse go to fast work with the fever on him, a little destroys
him. He dies, overworked, from work that would not have
destroyed him had he been well.

^Thoracic Influenza. — It is this kind that has prevailed so
much of late. . . . The pre-febrile symptoms are well marked.
If the horse be at work, they must be seen. In general they
are visible from one to four or five days before the fever
appears ; that is, before the eye reddens and the pulse
quickens. The rider or driver complains that his horse is dull
and weak ; upon inquiry it is found that he has not been
eating his hay, and perhaps not all his corn. The other
symptoms are more or less marked. The duration of this
stage is shortened by putting a working horse to rest. At
slow work, I have often seen a horse ill for three or four days,
without any sign of fever, which was suddenly developed after
he was laid up for twenty-four hours.

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 273

' Most frequently the fever steals upon the horse. In the
cephalic influenza, the horse is well at night, and eats his corn ;
next morning he is ill, and refuses his food. But the fever of
thoracic influenza advances in slower measure. Most usually
the horse eats a portion of two or three feeds before he abstains
entirely ; and it is some days before the pulse reaches its
greatest quickness. It may continue to rise for three or four
days, till it reach 70 or 80. In the cephalic disease it often
rises so high in one night, the heat of the body is always
greater, and the debility is not in such excess. The quick
pulse, the weakness, and the comparatively low tempera-
ture of the skin, are characteristic of thoracic influenza. The
skin is always warmer than usual, but it is not so hot as in
other diseases, when the pulse is equally quick. As the fever
advances, symptom after symptom becomes more clearly
established. The redness of the eye and the nostril deepens ;
the prostration of strength amounts almost to palsy ; the
pulse runs up to 75, 80, and in severe attacks to 90 or 95 ; it
is small, and not easily counted, yet the artery is sufficiently
perceptible. At the beginning, the breathing is often undis-
turbed, and in a few cases it never becomes very quick. In
many, it becomes excessively hurried in the height of the
fever, or immediately before death.

* In all cases it is more or less quickened from the time the
1 pulse rises; but in some there will be only 12 respirations
1 per minute, while in others there will be 35 or 40. The
1 breathing is always quickest when the inflammation spreads
i from the head, or is seated chiefly in the large branches of the
'windpipe. When it is confined to the minute branches,
I respiration is comparatively slow. The extremities are
1 usually warm. Sometimes three will be hot, and one cold ;
i at other times, one or two will be hot, and the remainder cold ;
( often they are all cold in the morning and hot at night. The
i horse always drinks a good deal, but he is not seriously ill
\when he eats either mashes or hay. He may, however, be
( often tempted to eat articles of which he is very fond, such as
c carrots, furze, boiled barley, beans, etc. The mouth is hot,
c dry, clammy, red, and occasionally tinged with yellow. The'

18

2 74 History of Animal Plagues.

eyes also are often yellowish, particularly at the beginning.
The evacuations are not altered in colour or consistence ; at
least they present no appearance which may not be observed
in health. They are often retained, the horse, perhaps, pass-
ing a whole day without emptying either bladder or rectum.
There is rarely any cough ; when there is, or when coughing
is excited by compression of the larynx, the sound is low,
stifled, gurgling, interrupted, and sometimes the effort is
painful. The horse rarely lies down. For a few minutes he
may, at- an early period, especially if he does any work after
he is ill ; and at a later stage of the disease he sometimes lies
down from abdominal pain ; but in nine cases out of ten he
stands night and day, from first to last. The blood, when
drawn, is always dark-coloured ; it is so even in the pre-febrile
stage, though not very decidedly. In fatal cases, the blood is
absolutely black, and thick as treacle for some time before the
horse dies. The vein fills slowly, and the blood escapes in
drops. It is exceedingly cohesive, sticking to the fingers, and
uniting with the hair like glue. When the horse is to live,
the symptoms, after an uncertain period, remain stationary.
He is in much the same state for two, three, or four days.
Then he becomes more lively, the eye less red, the pulse
softer, the artery not so easily felt, yet broader and softer
when it is felt. The heart may continue to be very irritable
for several days longer. Before the number of pulsations
decrease, there is usually some irregularity in the action of
the heart. It beats as quickly as before, but it pauses, omits
several strokes every now and then, perhaps at every twentieth
stroke. This is a good sign, and in this disease is entirely
independent of medicine. The horse gradually returns to his
food, moves about, recovers some portion of his strength, but
seldom lies down till eight or ten days after he appears to be
out of danger. When the horse is to die, his pulse con-
tinues to rise till it passes lOO ; the breathing gets quicker ;
the horse expresses no pain, yet his countenance indicates
extreme dejection. He stands for hours together without
moving a limb, heedless of all external objects, and showing
no desire for anything, except perhaps for water, when he

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 275

casts a languid glance behind him upon hearing a pail in
motion. If very heavy, he sometimes lies down, and in this
stage he requires assistance to rise. He seldom lies so long
as fifteen minutes. As death approaches, the pulse becomes
exceedingly small, hard, and quick. It can be counted only
from the heart. A few hours before death, the horse usually
becomes uneasy ; his breathing is very laborious, and perhaps
he has pain elsewhere. He is restless, thrusts his muzzle
against the keeper, as if he desired to attract attention or
implore relief The eye betrays suffering as plainly as speech
could tell it. The horse generally retains his senses till he
dies ; but sometimes his vision and hearing appear to be
affected, and he executes movements indicative of delirium.
At the last hour his breathing is laborious in an extreme
degree; he trembles, staggers, reels about, sinks on his
haunches, rises, prepares to lie down, again recovers his feet,
endeavours to stand, falls, gasps, and after a few struggles to
rise, he expires.

' Upon dissection the cellular, muscular, glandular, nervous,
all the vascular tissues of the body are tender, easily torn, and
gorged or stained with thick black blood. This is particularly
the case when the horse has died without bleeding. When
he has died purging, the discolouration is not so general, but
the soft, flabby, tender state of the muscular fibre is still more
, apparent. The bladder is seldom empty. The stomach and
' bowels always contain much fluid, as much, to all appearance,
as the horse has drunk for several days before. The kidneys
are never diseased, neither is the liver. This organ, indeed,
is tender, and full of blood ; but it is the seat of no more
I disease than the muscles. The lungs present various lesions.

When the inflammation has been confined chiefly to the large
1 bronchi, the lungs are large, much larger than usual ; they
I fill all the chest ; their external surface is little altered. Upon
^ opening the bronchi they are found full of white or reddish
f froth, which often extends along the whole course of the
t trachea, and into the head, filling all the cavities. When the
f horse is not examined till twenty-four hours or more after
death, this foamy froth escapes by the nostrils, and forms a

18—2

2/6

History of Animal Plagues.

pool around the muzzle. It is forced out as the body cools.
In addition to this, the bronchi usually contain some bloody
purulent matter. The lining membrane is always intensely
inflamed ; in some places it is black, in some green, and it is
red only where the inflammation has been least. In cases of
this kind the horse' is never very ill till within a day or two
of his death. He dies suddenly, and gasping with his mouth
wide open. When the inflammation has been confined to the
minute ramifications of the windpipe, the lungs are. not
larger their external surface is very dark; they look as if
they had been inflamed ; some parts are solid, the bronchia
obliterated, or full of bloody pus, mingled with a little air.
When the lung is solid, some of the bronchial tubes may be
traced, and their lining membrane found in union with a
dirty reddish or yellow lymph, by which they are filled up.
In those places where the inflammation has not proceeded
so far, the membrane is distinct, and intensely inflamed or
gangrenous, covered with bloody pus.

'When the horse lingers, which he frequently does, the
inflammation being intense, but not extensive, the lungs are
tuberculated, studded with tubercles in different stages of
their progress to suppuration, and of different sizes. Some-
times no tubercles are to be found ; the lung is black, soft,
short, the finger makes a cavity in its substance, and that
cavity fills immediately with pus and blood ; the air-tubes arc
full of lymph, the bloodvessels are full of coagulated blood ;
perhaps the pus comes from very minute branches, not seen
by the naked eye. The heart contains thick black, semi-
fluid blood on both sides, and a little is found in the aorta.
The brain I have never examined. The state of the lungs
almost forbids further inquiry.

' Regarding the seat of the disease, there cannot, surely, be
any dispute The inflammation of the bronchial mem-
brane sufiiciently accounts for the state of the blood. The
membrane by which it should be purified is unfit to perform
its function ; and the blood passes through the lung little
altered. The extreme debiHty, the torpid state of the muscles,
of the bowels, of every part ; the diminution of sensation.

Period from A.D. to A.D. 1840. 277

organic and aninfial ; the absence of pain ; the comparative
tranquillity of respiration, and coolness of the skin, are all to
be attributed to the state of the blood. Defaecation does not
take place, and the muscles cannot contract ; the nerves can-
not feel, and the glands cannot secrete. To the symptoms
produced by impure blood, add those that would accompany
an equal degree of inflammation in any other important
organ, and you have all the constituents of thoracic inflamma-
tion. The cause I do not know. Contagion is a fertile
source, and I cannot say that I have been able to trace the
disease to any other. Sometimes I have blamed exposure,
bad stables, general bad management and other agents ; but
I have seen horses again and again under the influence of
suspected agents without suffering as I expected they would
suffer. Wherever the disease has appeared, it has, with a few
exceptions, gone over the whole stud. In many large studs,
quite contiguous, but not connected with diseased stables,
there has been no influenza. In one containing twelve horses,
ten took the disease ; it was double-headed, and the disease
went over one side before it invaded the other ; at least, only
one on the first side remained well when the others began to
be affected. In another stable fourteen out of sixteen horses
took it ; and, in the majority of smaller stables, none have
escaped. There is often, however, a considerable interval
between the first and last. In one stable of about one
hundred and twenty horses, one came off a journey with the
disease. He was kept out of the yard, and he was the only

sufferer The complications and unusual results of

influenza are rather numerous : I can do little more than
mention them. The cephalic and the thoracic are often com-
bined from the beginning, and very often the latter follows
the former at the distance of several days. When the
bronchial inflammation becomes intense, that of the head
usually declines. But if the patient dies, the cavities of the
head, frontal and nasal, the trachea, and the large branches
of it, are all much inflamed and filled with froth. This com-
bination is very common, and easily understood. Pneumonia
appears to be present in all the cases that have rapidly run

278 History of A^iimal Plagues.

to a fatal termination. But the inflammation is frequently
said to be in the lungs when the discolouration arises chiefly
or entirely from inflammation in the minute bronchi.
Founder {lammitis) has not been so common as it usually is
in purely pneumonic attacks. I have had only two cases ;
they were, however, of great weight. Abdominal pain has
occurred very frequently. I have seen no case in which it
existed at the beginning. The horse has always entered the
febrile stage, and has been in it for a day or two. Sometimes
the pain is very acute ; sometimes merely a passing pang,
producing no mischief. When severe and lasting, the pain
always quickens and hardens the pulse ; and, unless quickly
removed, it destroys the horse. . . . Perhaps the large
quantity of fluid contained in the bowels may excite distension
or spasm at particular places where it accumulates. There is
no gaseous distension. Pleuritis has occurred in three or
four cases ; in two, the patients were neglected. They were
far gone before they came under treatment. But they seemed
to be doing very well for two or three days, till, all at once,
the pulse rose, hardened, and the breathing became pleuritic
— the costal cartilages forming a ridge along the flank, the
expiration prolonged, the inspiration incomplete, the flank not
fairly let down. Both died. The pleura was much diseased ;
in one the bronchi were gangrenous ; in the other, which
lingered for a good while, the bronchi were nearly or quite
sound ; but a portion of the lungs was solid, apparently from
obliteration of the air-tubes. Except from relapse or neglect,
there has been no case of influenza in combination with
pleuritis and hydrothorax. Diabetes has occurred in several

caseSj always at the decline of the disease Hepatitis has

not been seen by me : I have heard of it from others, but I
do not believe that the engorgement and tenderness of the
liver have any connection with inflammation in its substance.
Cellular effusion has been very rare. In a few cases the legs,
sheath, and brisket have swelled, but in a much less degree
than usual after a sharp attack of pneumonia or influenza as
it prevails in spring and autumn. I do not understand these
serous effusions ; but I am disposed to believe that hydro-

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 279

thorax, ascites, cellular effusion, and perhaps diabetes, all
arise from a particular state of the system, more than of the
organ by which the fluid is furnished. This, however, is
merely conjecture. Glanders and farcy, in a very acute form,
have been connected with influenza. The fatality of the
disease has not been very great, considering the number of
cases. In my own practice I have only lost eight. I do not
know how many have come under treatment ; I have no list,
and cannot remember more than between one hundred and
fifty and one hundred and sixty. But between neglect and
the bad treatment of quackery, the deaths have been suffi-
ciently numerous ; so many have died, that, notv/ithstanding
the high price of provender, all kinds of horses are dearer
than usual.'i

In London, Veterinary Surgeon Percivall, ist Life Guards,
writes : ' Disease has prevailed to an extraordinary extent
among horses during the summer and autumn of the present
year. Two distinct epidemics have come under my notice at
different times, nowise alike, and seemingly in nowise con-
nected. The first made its appearance in the month of May,
and declined and ceased in June. It was characterized by
dulness and dejection ; by complete and often long-continued
aversion to food of all kinds ; by sore throat, and in some
instances by catarrhal symptoms ; by celerity of pulse ; by
the speedy accession of debility ; and by an insidious prone-
ness to run into chronic pneumonia. In fine, altogether, it
did not materially differ from many former epidemics.

' But the second, which commenced in July, and still in the
metropolis (October) and probably in many country situations
continues to prevail, though its prevalence appears much
abated, has assumed altogether a different aspect from the
ordinary epidemic. It has manifested this one, among other
peculiarities, that in no instance has it presented the appear-
ance of catarrh.

' Symptoms. — Dulness, and indications of pain in the head ;
disinclination to take food ; partial closure, with slight puffy
tumours of one or both eyelids ; intolerance of light ; a trifling

^J. Stewart, The Veterinarian, vol. x. p. 119.

28o

Histoiy of Animal Plagues.

issue of tears from the inner canthus ; mouth hot, but moist ;
fulness of the skin under the jaw ; legs, most commonly all
four, swollen and tender to pressure ; sheath infiltrated ; gait
stiff, straddling, and, in some instances so difficult in the hind-
quarters as to excite suspicion that the loins were affected ;
pulse about 60 ; alvine and urinary excretions, if sensibly
altered, diminished, there being a disposition to constipa-
tion.

' The Peadiarities of the present prevailing epidemic consist,
first, in its singular uniformity of character : in upwards of
one hundred and thirty cases that have occurred immediately
under my own observation, it has preserved, with slight
variations, identical distinctive signs ; the eyes, the legs, the
gait, the sheath, the submaxillary interspace, have, one or
other, or all of them, in conjunction with febrile symptoms,
too plainly demonstrated the identity of the disorder to admit
of a moment's doubt. And these characteristics, I have since
learned, have been as promptly recognisable upon the Surrey
hills, farthest from London, as in the very heart of the
metropolis itself The second peculiarity observable has been
the absence of catarrhal symptoms ; most influenzae have
been noted for affecting severely the mucous membrane of
the air-passages ; in the present instance nothing has occurred
of the kind that has attracted notice. Thirdly, the present
epidemic has been of a remarkably curable nature — it has,
with very few exceptions, speedily yielded to mild and simple
treatment ; and although its tendency, after the primary
attack, to run into debility has been strong and rapid, still
that debility has not of itself proved ultimately hurtful
further than the ill-conditioned state to which the animal has
been reduced by it. Its Tendency or Termination has been,
with a little assistance from art, sooner or later, into the return
of health and strength. To this, however, there have been
some — in comparison to the numbers attacked, veiy few —
fatal exceptions. Out of the one hundred and thirty cases
that have occurred in the regiment to which I belong, two
have terminated in pneumonia, two in hydrothorax, and one
in farcy and glanders : the farcy originated in and spread

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 281

from the hind extremities ; glanders ensued. In some rare
instances the attack has been so sh'ght and evanescent as to
pass off after simply a change of diet, without medicine. In
the generality of cases, from a week to a fortnight has suf-
ficed to restore the animals to health. In some instances a
lingering low fever, characterized by languor and debility,
with or without swollen legs and sheath, and weak eyes, has
supervened, which has called for the administration of tonics
and diuretics and stimulants, and required from one week to a
month to overcome. In one case, after the expiration of a
month, an abscess formed in the throat, which proved critical,
as from that period the animal went on well.

' Canses. — My regiment did not move from the Regent's
Park Barracks until the first week in July, up to which period
not a single case had occurred of this latter description of
epidemic. The first and second weeks in July were marked
by oppressively sultry weather, and in the third the influenza
made its appearance, of which I have been attempting a
description. Soon after its onset it rapidly spread, not from
one horse to another standing by his side, or even always in
the same stable or part of the barracks ; but it selected as its
subjects the young, the three and four-year-old horses, leaving
hardly one of them unaffected, and scarcely ever fastening
upon an aged horse. I have kept several old horses in
situations where they have been surrounded by others affected
with influenza, and they have not caught the disorder : for
these reasons I have pronounced the disease not contagious.
Had I once entertained a different notion, I should have
considered it my imperative duty to have used every precau-
tion to prevent its spreading: I took none, and I have not
had the slightest reason to repent of it. . . .

'Relapse. — Rare, but marked, instances have presented them-
selves of relapse : about half a dozen horses experienced
a second attack, differing only from the first in being milder.
In one or two subjects a third attack seemed demonstrable.

Pathology. — The parts principally affected appear to be, as
far as we are enabled by the symptoms to point them out, the
brain and nerves, the spinal marrow, and the serous or exhalent

History of Animal Plagues.

structures. The dispiritedness and indications of headache,
together with the augmented sensibility of many parts, are
sufficient to warrant us in inferring cerebral and nervous
derangement or excitation ; while the infiltration of the legs,
the sheath, the submaxillary space, and the eyelids — all parts
redundant in cellular structure, and more or less dependent in
their position— make it manifest that the exhalent system
altogether is in an inordinate state of activity. This seems to
be the result of the cerebral excitation ; or, in other words, a
fever is set up in the constitution in consequence of some
alarm or irritation the cerebral or nervous system has
experienced from some external influence, supposed to be
atmospheric, which we neither know nor profess to know,
anything about. And indeed, of the nature of the fever we
understand as little as we do about the cause : we see it first
in an inflammatory form ; next, in a state of decline, as though
it were about to take its departure altogether, and in some
cases actually doing so ; but in others, instead of leaving,
changing into a low debilitative character, and in that form
hanging about the animal for quite an indefinite length
of time, giving rise, on occasions, to fresh grievances, such as
local inflammations or swellings, abscesses, diseased lungs,
etc. That the fever is specific or uncommon is shown by
various peculiar local disorders attending it, by its course and
tendency, and by the little power we have over it by medicine.
That it is not either infectious or contagious is made evident
from the manner in which it affectshorses standing congregated
in large bodies. That it is neither destructive nor malignant
in its influence is proved by its evanescent character, and by
the speedy return of health. That its production is connected
with atmospheric causes seems most probable from the cir-
cumstance of its being found to prevail so extensively and
generally at the same season, and, in all localities — in the
centre of London and upon the Surrey hills — to present one
uniform aspect.'^

Mr. Cherry, after stating that he observed the malady first
in Berkshire, then at Brixton Hill, Surrey, and about two

1 Percivall. The Veterinarian, vol. x. p. 132.

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 283

months afterwards in London, asserts that it spread from east
to west. Iri July and August its character became rapidly-
developed, and in the following January it had attained such
dimensions that it excited great alarm. ' The frost, which was
rather severe, brought it out with terrific violence, and the
whole kingdom was suffering from it.'^ Mr. Harrison, of
Lancaster, says all horses, from the foal to the most aged,
participated in the general sickness.^ Mr. Gloag, loth Hussars,
in garrison at Nottingham, reports that out of forty horses of
that regiment attacked with this influenza, fifteen died.^

On the Continent there are some interesting notices to be
found for this year, and among the diseases mentioned we
also find this horse influenza. In Pomerania, the milzbrand
appears to have been, as usual, the predominant malady. In
Brandenburg, the chief characteristic of the prevailing diseases
among animals was catarrhal rheumatism, with a constant
tendency to nervous derangement, and often with gastric
complications. Domestic poultry sickened and died of the
same pestilence-like symptoms which have been described for
last year. These were mostly noticed among hens during the
months of January, April, August, September, and October.
The cause of this disease was not reported, and its rapid
course gave no opportunity for the trial of remedial measures.

It had been observed that during the latter part of the last
century and the commencement of this, there had raged among
horses for many consecutive years throughout the whole of
Germany, and even in other countries to a greater or less
extent, a catarrhal nervous fever, with various complications,
to which medical writers had given several designations, such
as 'horse-plague' {pferdseuche), 'nervous catarrhal fever,'
'chest disease' (brustsetiche), 'epizootic lung-and-liver inflam-
mation,' and 'influenza.' 'Since 182 1 this disease has broken
out again, now here, now there, in a variety of forms, and has
caused great loss in studs, in the public and cavalry stables.
In the year 1836 it raged in the province of Brandenburg over

^ Cherry. The Veterinarian, vol. xx. * Harrison. Ibid. vol. x. p. 8.

^ Gloag. Ibid. p. 12. Many more notices of this epizobty will be found in Mr.
Spooner's (of Southampton) work on the Influenza of Horses. London, 1837.

I

284 History of Animal Plagues.

a tolerably wide district, and especially in the months of
January, February, May, and June. In the third quarter of
the year it appeared only in isolated cases among horses. In
the latter part of the autumn it became more frequent
again, and manifested itself as a combination of lung-and-liver
inflammation of an asthenical character, but was not very
malignant. It was most frequent in stables where large
numbers of horses stood ; and from this circumstance, joined
to the state of the weather under which it usually occurred,
we may learn that one of the principal causes of the disease
was the damp, cold, changeable season, and foul air inhaled
in the stables. Long rest and good fodder after severe labour
seems to have been conducive to the disease, and occasionally
even to make it contagious. The symptoms of this malady
were : A yellow colour of the conjunctiva and the mucous
membrane of the mouth ; sudden and great lassitude — in
many cases even stupor ; loss of appetite, especially for corn.
There was increasing fever ; and rapid and often soft pulse
(from 60 to 100 a minute); quick, short breathing, with fre-
quently increased temperature of the breath; pain on pressure
in the region of the chest ; a dry cough ; continuous standing
posture ; pale-yellow and small-balled dung ; thin urine. The
disease lasted from ten to sixteen days. Its termination was
frequently accompanied by the passage of a very bilious-
looking, dark-brown coloured excrement ; by thick brown
urine, and occasionally by a profuse secretion of mucus in the
respiratory organs.

' Glanders and farcy occurred at all times of the year, but less
through infection than through the unfavourable termination
of the catarrh {druse), which was so common in its various
complications. Among cattle, the milzbrand showed itself
first in May, among the herds of Jeserich, near Brandenburg,
after the animals had been six days at pasture. Soon after-
wards it appeared at Golzau, and then in Liitte (in the Prin-
cipality of Potsdam). At the latter place it raged at the
same time among sheep, and with these, as with the cattle, it
assumed in most cases the apoplectic form. Want of water
could not have occasioned the disease in these places, and it

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 285

appears rather to have been induced through the animals
having been driven by sandy paths and through clouds of
dust to the pastures, which were low and swampy, and the
miasma from which had probably a prejudicial influence on
health. In July and August the disease showed itself here
and there, but only in isolated cases, among cattle, sheep, and
swine. In the month of September, however, it appeared
among the horned stock of different neighbourhoods of the
province, but chiefly in several villages of the Principality of
Potsdam almost simultaneously, causing great devastation,
especially in the village herds of Stechow (Westhavelland
district). In October several head of cattle in the herds at
Neuendorf (Cottbusser district) suddenly fell dead. On the
5th of November, at the same place, two head died. The
principal cause of this was supposed to be the pasturing the
cattle in ponds drained in the spring, and where during the
heat of the summer a miasma was disengaged from the slime
and decayed vegetable matter ; for all the other cattle re-
mained healthy, although not protected from the weather.
On the whole, only eight head died, and the disease was
stayed on the removal of the cattle from this pasture, and
feeding them upon good hay, potatoes, turnips, and pure
spring-water.

' The lung disease appeared in about fifteen different places,
but nowhere attained such proportions as might have been
anticipated by the unfavourable state of the weather.
Lecksuchf^ (a desire to lick), and brittleness of the bones — a

1 This affection {Rosio vaccaruin) in which the cow has a tendency to lick and
nibble everything, especially saline, calcareous, or earthy substances, is always the
sign of a cachexia, which may be compared to the picking {pica) of chlorotic
children {Hetcsinger). A similar affection has been observed in sheep in countries
where they are housed in winter. These animals not only acquire a morbid dis-
position to lick walls and swallow various solid substances, but to lick themselves
or other sheep, and tear off the wool, which they ingest. This unnatural condition
is said to be due to feeding sheep too exclusively on sloppy food, and not allowing
them the dried vegetation natural to them at this season of the year. Hair and
other concretions form in the stomachs ; the animals do not thrive, and destroy
their fleeces. All this is obviated by allowing them hay. When the habit becomes
confirmed, it is often necessary to separate the animals, and dress the wool with
nauseous substances. In Germany the disease has also been termed pica, as in
children.

I

History of Animal Plagues.

disease of late rare in this neighbourhood, became so frequent
in the neighbourhood of Spremberg, Seuftenberg, Calau, and
Lackau, from March to the end of September, that it might
be considered a true plague {seuche). The veterinarian
Dietrich ascribed it to the poverty and scarcity of the fodder.

'Among sheep, anthrax {blutstaupe) usually attacks the best-
thriving and best-fed ewes in the rich pastures, but especially
in the stubble fields, in the summer and autumn. In the year
1836 it appeared under similar circumstances in August,
September, and October in several places ; but it nowhere
attained any considerable spread, because the owners at once
applied the remedy which experience had taught them to
use, viz. changing them to a poorer pasture. The veterin-
arian Hahn, in Ziillichau, saw the disease break out among
a fine flock of four hundred ewes, from the shepherds giving
them, for several consecutive nights, musty and damaged rye.
The malady showed itself in an apoplectic form, and was of
such a dangerous character that a sheep attacked by it rarely
lived longer than a quarter of an hour. The animals were
usually attacked with trembling and giddiness over the whole
body, as they were standing at the rack and eating hay or
other forage ; then appeared violent convulsions with slimy
saliva flowing from the mouth ; death under convulsive con-
tortions of the whole body rapidly followed. The variola
ovina {Pockenseuche) showed itself in the principality of
Potsdam, as in that of Frankfurt, and caused very consider-
able loss where it broke out during the winter and summer
months. A black goat upon a farm at Tzschetznow, near
Frankfurt, where the disease had appeared among the wethers,
and which herded with the sick animals, was so violently
attacked that the pustules covered the whole of its body, and
even spread over its mouth, so that it looked as if sown with
them. It recovered by careful nursing, and the course of the
malady in it was precisely the same as with the sheep.

' Cases of rabies,and dogs suspected of rabies, were unusually
frequent this year from January until the beginning of June,
and in the months of November and December in several
districts, many people and a considerable number of animals

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 287

(horses, cattle, and sheep) were bitten and infected by them.
It almost seemed as if the frequent change of weather in the
before-mentioned months had some considerable influence in
developing the disease.' ^

A very deadly epizooty of subacute anthrax was observed
among lambs at Pless, in Silesia, from the 20th of May.
Mr. Lowack says, regarding the etiology of the outbreak :
' The weather in the month of April was cold and damp ; at
the beginning of May we had the first warm days. On the
loth of May the temperature was warmer still, and in the
afternoon appeared storm and heavy rain clouds, which
expended themselves in violent tempests of thunder, lightning,
and rain, until the 14th, on which day the weather was clear,
and the heat was very remarkable — even oppressive, until
after a very severe storm of hail and rain, when the tempera-
ture fell and the heavens were clear, but only to the following
mid-day. Then masses of clouds gathered and obscured the
sun, rendering the eclipse which took place between three and
four o'clock p.m. quite invisible. On the i6th, 17th, and
19th of May the air was sultry, with thunder and occasional
showers ; from the 20th to the end of May the weather was
fine.

' These important electrical phenomena have, it is highly
probable, brought on the anthrax disease among lambs ; that
such powerful electric disturbances in the atmosphere affected
the healthy condition of living creatures is shown by the fact,
that during an oppressive state of the air the irritability of all
organs becomes depressed, and a drowsiness of the whole body
takes place ; so that the animal functions do not continue
with their usual energy ; the blood in an animal whose death
was caused by the anthrax disease is black, and in certain
organs greatly accumulated. This dark colour of the blood
is caused by an incomplete process of decarbonization, and as
the air comes into close contact with the blood through the
lungs, such as electric tension of the air must cause similar
disturbances in the functions of the lungs, which makes a
decreased nervous power conditional upon it. Also the de-

* Sanitatsberichte d. Provinz Brandenburg, 1836.

288

History of Animal Plagues.

creased force of the air before a storm may contribute to this,
inasmuch as the blood in the veins does not flow with the
usual energy towards the central organ, and an accumulation
of blood in certain organs is more likely to arise.'^

Glanders, which had been during this and the preceding
year very prevalent in the Prussian provinces, was also un-
commonly frequent in Mecklenburg. 'Glanders appeared
usually in a sporadic form, but was not seldom widely spread
by infection, especially among cavalry horses, etc. In the
same manner the glanders raged almost epizootically in the
years 1835 and 1836 in Mecklenburg.' 2

In Dalmatia the rinderpest raged this year in the Spalato
Kreise. In the district of Sign it destroyed four hundred
head. The disease was introduced from Bosnia. In the other
Kreisen no particular diseases were recorded.^

In the Tyrol the epizootic diseases of this year were milz-
brand, and then inflammatory and typhoid lung disease among
the horned stock of Unterinnthal and Botzen.^

In Lombardy contagious pleuro-pneumonia was very deadly,
killing in one instance one hundred and thirty-eight cattle out
of two hundred and fifty-six. Carbuncular fever in a district
destroyed seventeen out of twenty-four attacked. Epizootic
aphtha affected eight hundred and twenty-two cattle and
swine, of which number only eight died.^

In Upper Austria the contagious lung disease and Cattle
Plague {loserdiirre) were prevalent, and between them destroyed
one hundred and thirty-one head.*^

In this year Professor Jessen, of Dorpat, relates having
observed in a goat symptoms which so clearly resembled those
of Cattle Plague, as to lead him to infer that the animal was
suffering from this malady."

In Lower Austria, it is reported that the rinderpest was

^ Gttrlt und Hertwig. Magazin, vol. vi. p. 17.

2 Versmann. Uber Rotz-und Wurmkrankheit, p. 9.

3 CEsterieich. Med. Jahrbuch, vol. xxvi. ^ Ibid. " Ibid.
'Ibid. vol. xxiv.

Jessen. Notizen iiber die Lungenseuche und -die Rinderpest. Gwlt und
Herliuig. Magazin, 1836, p. 219.

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 289

somewhat prevalent, and the lung disease of cattle showed
itself as an annual epizooty.

Prinz reports from Dresden, Saxony, that there was no
striking tendency to disease among the domestic animals, and
those occurring were due to external influences. The existing
maladies were yet sufficiently remarkable to be noticed, from
their ordinary features being complicated with others of an
unusual character, but chiefly of a bilious kind. At the same
time there was a great tendency to nervous disturbance,
accompanied by debility, in which a tendency to gangrene
was manifest, causing wounds and inflammations to assume
an unhealthy aspect. In January appeared catarrhal and
rheumatic diseases among horses and dogs, often complicated
with mild bilious symptoms. Among lambs, on some sheep-
farms, there was a bilious fever which frequently became
deadly through softening of the liver and subsequent dropsy ;
among older sheep which had 'rot,' death was caused by
diarrhcea. In February, rheumatic diseases among horses,
cattle, swine, and pigs, were frequent ; among horses and dogs
these were often followed by abscesses on the skin. With
dogs, dysentery was sometimes observed ; four dogs died of
dumb madness. In March, there appeared at the commence-
ment of the month a general attack of sore-throat amongst
horses, which terminated in cedema of the hind-legs. Several
horses were also attacked with anthrax fever, which com-
menced with rigidity of the neck, but soon ended in gangrene
of the intestinal canal. In many horses there also appeared
gangrenous swellings at the inferior parts of the limbs. Among
dogs bilious fever with marked symptoms of jaundice pre-
vailed, and five died of rabies. In April anthrax fever was
still more prevalent amongst horses, and terminated in
gangrene of the intestinal tract or gangrene of the feet—
particularly the ' hinder ones. Among dogs the catarrhal
fever was often of a nervous kind, and many fowls died of
a bilious inflammation of the intestines. In May there
frequently appeared among horses spasmodic colic and
rheumatic affections, as well as specific ophthalmia in horses
and dogs. In June horses were often attacked with inflam-

19

290

History of Animal Plasties.

mation of the lungs ; many also died of lymphatic diseases,
particularly glanders, after catarrhal affections. In July a
gangrenous inflammation of the intestines was frequent
amongst horses, with ulceration of the mucous membrane
lining the large intestine ; gangrene was common in wounds.
Among swine quinsy appeared, and in dogs catarrhal fever,
accompanied by an aphthous eruption on the skin ; young
poultry often died of debility. In August rheumatic diseases
were prevalent amongst horses and dogs ; the former often
suffered from gangrenous inflammation of the feet or enteritis,
with gangrenous vesicles" on the mucous membrane of the
mouth. Cats were often attacked during this and the follow-
ing months with catarrhal fever, which readily assumed a
nervous type, or terminated in a mangy eruption on the skin.
In the month of September the catarrhal diseases were less
complicated than in the earlier months. Among cattle false
cow-pox was observed, and at pasture the young cows
suffered from articular rheumatism in the fore-limbs. In
October the catarrhal fever was frequently accompanied in
horses and dogs with inflammation of the salivary glands,
particularly the sublingual ones. It was also observed that,
owing, it was supposed, to being allowed to eat potato-tops,
the cows gave what is known as ropy milk. Amongst foreign
cows, in consequence of housing (?), the real anthrax fever
appeared, with swellings under the skin. In November bilious
catarrhal fevers prevailed amongst horses, with inflammation
of the sublingual salivary ducts, and rheumatic colic. In
December there appeared amongst swine quinsy, and
amongst dogs gangrenous sore mouth, and diarrhoea amongst
all animals.^

At Paris, rabies in the dog had been extremely common
throughout the year.^

During the plague in mankind at Marvar, East Indies,
Forbes records a strange mortality among animals. Speaking
of that place he writes : ' Although the whole of that province
had been for long in rather an insecure and disturbed state,

1 Prinz. Clarus und Radius. Beitrage, iv. p. 209.
Recueil de Med. Vet^r. vol. xiv. p. 473.

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 291

it did not affect, to any degree, the circumstances of the bulk
of the people, and food was cheap and abundant ; neither had
there been any unusual peculiarity in the seasons. It was
said, and I believe with truth, that there had been a great
mortality among the cattle, not only throughout Marvar, but
in Mullani, and the desert country to the westward, occasioned
by a complaint differing from the epizootics usually observed
(the name given to this epizooty in Mullani, or the south-
western part of Marvar, was "Mjmh:' i.e. the mouth, the most
prominent and characteristic symptom being a copious dis-
charge of viscid fluid from the mouth and fauces, resembling
^profuse salivary flux) ; but these reports were often vague
and unsusceptible of sufficient proof to be quite satisfactory.
(About Balwir an unusual mortality among poultry was
remarked during the years The most singular

phenomena remarked in connection with the breaking out of
the disease, and adverted to in Mr. White's report, was the
death of all the ratsm the yillage of Taiiwali, during the latter
half of April, and just before its first appearance. He says :
" They lay dead in all places and directions, in the streets,
houses, and hiding-places of the walls ;" and that this death of
the animals attended or preceded the disease in every town
that was attacked in Marvar, "so that the inhabitants of any
house instantly quitted it on seeing a dead rat." '

The epidemic which prevailed in Kumaon, in 1834-5, was
preceded, according to Mr. Gowan the commissioner, by
a great mortality among the rats in the villages.^

The contagious pleuro-pneumonia of cattle made its appear-
ance at Hasselt, in Belgium, in this year. Dr. Willems writes :
' This disease was introduced to us from Flanders, in 1836, by
some beasts purchased of the merchant Moras, and first
brought to my father's stables, and to those of M. Plate!
distiller. From that time to the present (1853), all the
distillers have suff-ered considerably by it, and many small
tarmers have been entirely ruined. The disease, at first
epizootic amongst us, has become enzootic, and decimates a

Prlvttof ?ndi:';.^r" ^"'^ - North-western

19—2

292

History of Animal Plagues,

considerable number of beasts of the bovine race every
year.' ^

In Ireland, a disease in pigs ' under the name of cholera, on
account of the black colour the animal assumed,' was reported
from the county of Cavan and other parts of the island. It
was also described under the name oi morbus niger ; and was
a form of fever attended with symptoms of inflammation of
the bowels. Dr. Callanan of Cork, who investigated the
disease, says that 'shortly after the epidemic of cholera, a
malignant disease attacked the swine, and swept them off in
immense numbers.'

In England, what was designated by Mr. Rawlings of
Bristol as ' a novel, interesting, and severe disease in a flock of
ewes and lambs' is reported. Many ewes and lambs had
died, and no less than seventy of the latter were ill when this
veterinary surgeon was called in. ' Their mouths presented a
mass of disease, being one complete ulcer. ... I found a
large fungus issuing from all around the lower gum, envelop-
ing the teeth, and protruding over the lip to a very consider-
able extent. . . . The disease clearly originated in the lower
gum, and when it was matured to any extent, the ewes
refused to allow the lamb to suck, and it gradually pined
away. At this stage of the disease, the lamb communicates
it to the ewe's udder. As soon as she is affected, she begins
to lose flesh most rapidly ; the udder becomes tumefied. In
some of the extreme cases the udder suppurated, and parts of
it, with one or both teats, sloughed, and the ewe was rendered
useless for a stock ewe.' The disease also appeared upon
another farm, but being looked upon as contagious, and the
diseased separated from the healthy, it did not spread. Every
inquiry made on the Cotswold Hills proved that such a
malady had never been seen among the sheep before this
time.^

An excellent essay on the canine distemper in Bengal ap-
peared in this year, in which the writer says that imported
dogs do not exhibit the same symptoms as the semi-savage
pariah dog. In that country it appeared to be due to hea

1 Dr. Willems. Op. cit. Rawlings. The Veterinarian, vol. x. p. 205.

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 293

and moisture, as well as contagion. Jackals suffering from
this disease have been shot. ' My experience enables me to
say that foxes also are liable to a number of diseases in this
country, for I have met mangy and emaciated ones very often
in the jungles of India. I cannot answer for the wolf, but
suspect that, with the other members of the canine tribe, he
is also liable to distemper. . . . Distemper is a disease which
puts on a variety of forms, and is blended with other ailments,
such as enteritis, diarrhoea, and mange.^ ... I have seen a
kind of distemper here which lasts for some months during
the rainy and cold season, and disappears in the hot weather ;
it is most frequently attended with cough, pulmonary conges-
tion, and lankness. Another type of the disease comes on in
the very hottest months, chiefly in imported strong dogs ; it is
acute for a few days, and terminates fatally, when the victim
dies in great agony.' ^

A.D. 1837. This year is chiefly remarkable for the epidemy
of influenza, which prevailed in many countries. The malady
appeared in London during the first weeks in January. For
the four preceding months the weather had been singularly
wet, cold, and stormy, large quantities of snow having fallen ;
even in the streets of London it lay for weeks. The evapora-
tion of this, when subsequently thawed, rendered the air cold

^ This mange may be the pustular or vesicular eruption which sometimes
accompanies distemper in the dog in this country.

- Indian Journal of Medical and Physical Science, April, 1 863. Nearly all animals
are affected by some form of febrile catarrh, which, though bearing a close analogy
to the catarrhal affection of mankind, has yet, in each species of animal, a strange
tendency to assume a particular and specific character. The horse, cow, sheep, dog,
goat and cat species have their special form, and each form is liable to assume a
peculiar character. Even monkeys do not escape ; and in them swelling and even
suppuration of the lymphatic glands has been observed, in this respect resembling
the so-called ' strangles' or pyogenic fever of the horse. All catarrhal diseases in
the lower animals have a great tendency to become contagious, and sometimes, as
it would appear, acquire the property of transmission from one species to another.
And they all readily become epizootic, at one time affecting many species, and
at another only one. They are nearly always enzootic in low, damp and foggy-
countries. The verminous catarrhal disease of lambs, calves and pigs, in which
the air-passages are implicated (corresponding to a similar affection of the intes-
tines in young children occurring in the same regions), is enzootic in Holland,
at Gottingen, and other places of a like physical character. It is also epizootic
at times.

294

Histoiy of Anwtal Plasties.

and damp for a long time. In November a great storm from
the south-west occurred. On Christmas-day there was a
simultaneous storm of wind and snow over the west of
Europe ; snow fell in the streets of Lisbon and Palermo, and
also at Canton, China— a circumstance before unknown. It
lay so deep in England that intercourse was impeded.

The influenza continued in London for six or seven weeks.
It appeared in Scotland earlier than in England, and it
showed itself in the northern and eastern parts of the latter
country before the southern and western. The inhabitants of
Russia, Sweden, and Denmark suffered very much from it ;
and it was estimated that at least thirty thousand people were
labouring under the affection at one time in the month of
January at Copenhagen. Paris was visited by the epidemy a
month later than London, the disease having previously pre-
vailed in Calais and other intervening places.^

Coincidently, and even later in the year, the lower animals
were affected with what was also designated ' influenza.' In
England and Scotland, horses more particularly suffered from
the epizooty. Professor Stewart, writing from Glasgow, says :
'In the month of June we had another kind of influenza here.
It was the same that you had in London. The horse was
fevered ; the eyelids, muzzle, and legs anasarcous ; the pulse
always small and weak, and seldom beating more than 50,
sometimes not exceeding 30. It seemed to be confined to
Glasgow and its neighbourhood. Only one death in my
practice. Several horses had it twice. In some it was com-
bined with bronchitis.'^

At Galgou, France, cattle suffered from loss of appetite,
weakness of the limbs, injected eyes, and debility while the
epidemy prevailed. In Medoc, horses were similarly affected.*

In Germany the malady was very general. In Branden-
burg it reigned among horses during the first and second
quarters of the year;* and in Westphalia it was especially rife
among cavalry horses during this and the two succeeding

Bascome. Op. cit. p. 169. Stewart. The Veterinarian, vol. x. p. 606.

'Journal de Med. Pratique de Bordeaux, 1837.
* Sanitiitsbericht d. Provinz Brandenburg, 1837.

Period from A.D. 1836 io A.D. 1840. 295

years. Herr Stephan says : ' A disease described by Viborg
as " influenza" and " virulent epizootic horse-fever," by Pilger
as "epizootic nervous pituitous fever," by others as "acute
glanders" (wte), " feverish head complaint" {Kopfkrankheit),
" typhus," " liver-typhus," " horse-typhus" (Hofacker), " pseudo
{falsche) inflammation of the lungs," and " epizootic gastric-
catarrhal fever " (Hayne), has appeared. Like the cholera or
" gi'ippe " among mankind, it suddenly, and without apparent
cause, attacks the horses of a district in larger or smaller
numbers, rages for a time, and then again disappears. Hence
it is justly termed an epizoo-tic, and also a dangerous disease ;
for unless timely and proper medical assistance is at hand, by
far the greater number of horses attacked die. In the autumn
of 1837, 1 had an opportunity of observing this disease among
the horses of the 2nd squadron of the nth Hussars at Hanau,
when more than thirty were affected. The sixth or seventh
horse died, and it was supposed that bleeding was the cause
of this unfortunate result in several of the fatal cases. . . . From
the 1 6th of August, 1838, to the middle of March, 1839, the
disease raged among the horses of the rst, 3rd, and 4th
squadrons of the same regiment, which were quartered in
Miinster. Of the three squadrons, consisting of four hundred
and twenty-six horses, one hundred and three were attacked
with influenza, and of these thirteen died. The horses of the
1st squadron were first attacked, and from the 1 6th August to
the 20th September thirty were aff"ected. Up to this time
there had been no case in the other two squadrons, and from
the last date to October loth no others were reported. From
this time, however, cases occurred in all the squadrons to the
end of the year, in the following proportions : the ist and 4th
always had from three to five sick horses, the 3rd from eight
to nine. . . .

' In 1839, up to the middle of March, the 4th squadron had
sixteen new cases. In the other squadrons no case occurred
during that time. ... In all the patients there was difficulty
in breathing from the very commencement, but fever was not
always present in a proportionate degree. ... At the outset
of the disease, the pulse varied very much in character ; in a

296

History of Animal PlagzLes.

few cases it was full and strong ; in most cases it was small
and hard {hart), sometimes thready {fadenformig), and at
the same time irregular, both as regards its number and
quality ; in another case it would be soft, while in yet another
it was sinking and often scarcely to be felt. The last was the
least hopeful, as it was indicative of great debility. At the
same time the pulsation of the heart was always to be felt,
and often it had a double beat, which was occasionally parti-
cularly acute. The number of the respirations in a minute
varied between eighteen and thirty-six. The muscles of the
abdomen and flanks, at the commencement, were but slightly
agitated, though respiration out of doors was always marked
by an unusual dilatation of the nostrils. Many horses coughed
much on the slightest pressure on the larynx or windpipe
from the beginning of the attack, and the cough was usually
hollow, weak and painful— more rarely harsh and croupy.
Others only began to cough when the disease was disappear-
ing. From the sixth to the eighth day, a yellow fluid fre-
quently flowed from the nostrils, which gradually ceased as
the animal became convalescent. The appetite generally
disappeared at the commencement of the disease, but not in
all cases. If there was no diarrhoea, the faeces at the early
stage were usually in dark-coloured balls, which in many
instances were covered with a slimy mucus that could be
easily removed. But if there was diarrhoea, the faeces were
of course watery. At first the ears and extremities were
frequently cold — the tips of the ears were always so. The
mucous membrane of the mouth was only in a few instances
at this stage rather dry ; in all others it was very moist and
warm, pale in colour, and in many cases palish-yellow. The
conjunctiva was always much tumefied and yellowish-red ; in
a few instances only was the yellow colour remarkably deep.
Generally speaking, a bilious character was not specially
noticed. The secretions of those animals which died did not
show any serious disturbance of the functions of the liver in
any one case. . . . The disease, when it appeared as a simple
chest affection, without gastric or nervous complications,
usually increased, notwithstanding medical treatment, in

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 297

nearly all the cases at its very outset, until the sixth, eighth,
or ninth day ; and in such a manner that the fever, which
perhaps commenced with between 50 to 60 pulsations, reached
from 70 to 90 beats or more in the minute. The number of
respirations during such fever was usually between 50 and
60 per minute, and the breathing was what might be called
pumping (J)iC7npend) ; in every case at this stage, the appetite
entirely failed. At the same time there were also (^edematous
swellings beneath the breast and belly ; these were some-
times of enormous size, and the legs were also involved.
When the disease reached this stage, and attempts to
thoroughly evacuate the urinary organs failed, death quickly
ensued ; but if, on the contrary, a plentiful discharge of urine
could be maintained, convalescence was almost certain. From
twelve to sixteen days was the ordinary duration of the
malady, though instances occurred of its lasting three weeks,
and one even as long as forty days. . . . The disease was
always obstinate when complicated with nervous symptoms
in the form of paraplegia ; when it was complicated with
diarrhoea and colic, it rapidly assumed a critical character,
though it usually terminated favourably. When it was com-
plicated with quinsy {brdune) two of the patients died ; the
number attacked in this manner was one-twelfth of the whole,
and the duration of the malady was from ten to twenty days.
. . . The results of the post-mortem examinations of the
organs which offered pathological phenomena, were in all
cases (except the two complicated with quinsy) very much
alike. With one exception, the cavity of the chest was filled
with a thick watery iluid, now yellow, now dark-brown, or of a
greenish colour, in which large pieces of plastic lymph floated.
In allj the pericardium contained more or less serum, and its
external surface was also covered with plastic lymph. The
lungs were partly degenerated : in most cases only one, in
some both were involved ; true pus abscesses were not ob-
served, but on cutting into the lung the parenchyma appeared
as a dirty grey-green, or brownish-green coagulum. In a few
cases only did the liver appear affected, and then to a trifling
extent — a small portion appearing somewhat soft, yellow, and

298

History of Animal Plagues.

friable. In two cases, traces of inflammation of the bowels were
observed , . . Little can be said as to the causes of this disease.
Though the forage which the horses of the nth regiment
of Hussars had received since the summer of 1838 was of
decidedly bad quality (the oats were, it is true, somewhat
dusty, but otherwise good), it appears to me too venturesome
to seek the origin of the disease in that circumstance. I
must, therefore, as many have already done, take refuge in
attributing it to some miasmatic influence.'^

The same disease appears to have prevailed among the
brood mares of the stud at Achelschwang, in Bavaria.
Siebert reports its occurrence, and goes on to say : ' To the
observations then made, I add here others relating to the
so-called " horse-plague " {pferdseuche) which raged among the
brood mares in the years 1837 and 1838. This disease first
showed itself as a synochous lung and diaphragm inflamma-
tion {synochose hmgen tend briistfell entziindung) ; but it
followed such a peculiar course, that after a couple of days it
assumed an asthenic character. In some instances this
manifested itself at the very commencement of the disease by
a frequent and weak pulse, bounding heart beat, and greatly
accelerated respiration ; there also flowed a thin yellow mucus
from the nostrils ; the appetite failed entirely, and the patients
could only take fluids. . . . Irritant cataplasms and sharp
friction to the chest must be frequently repeated to have
any good effect ; bleeding, as several trials have proved, is
injurious — even at the commencement of the disease. Inter-
nally give rad. Valerianae, angelic, sem. fcenic, bacc. juniper.,
sulphur, ant. aurat, in the form of an electuary ; and
in some cases which threaten to become typhoid, I even add
camphor in moderate doses. Of those attacked only one
died, and from it a large quantity of blood had been
abstracted. In some cases, however, lameness of the posterior
limbs remained, which only gave way eventually to vigorous
treatment. The disease did not affect the foetus, for the
mares which recovered all brought forth healthy foals at the

^ Stephan. Die Epizobtische Pferdseuche. Gurlt una Hertwig. Magazin,
vol. V. p. 434.

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 299

proper time. ... In 1839, all the brood mares remained
apparently healthy, but out of thirty-two mares, twenty cast
their foals ; the remaining twelve foaled in due course, but the
foals were sickly and died within two days after birth.
This would indicate either an unhealthy condition of the mare
not apparent externally, or that the disease attacked the
foetus independently. An examination of them showed
diseased lungs and an abnormal condition of the liver.' ^

A similar malady was observed at Berlin during this and
the following year ; and as epidemic cholera was prevalent, it
was supposed to have some features in common with that
malady. The directors of the Berlin Veterinary School report :

' In the second week of August, the Asiatic cholera having
appeared in a very virulent form in mankind, disease of a
rheumatic-gastric and -gastric-nervous character was prevalent
among horses, for up to the 24th, colic and enteritis were of
daily occurrence, but from that day to the end of the month
there were only two cases. The colic was generally of a
rheumatic and spasmodic character, complicated with consti-
pation of the bowels, although in some cases diarrhoea was
present. Besides this, throughout the whole month many
horses were attacked with "influenza," acute rheumatism, and
inflammation of the feet.'^

Pommer, Canton Veterinary Surgeon of Soleure, Switzer-
land, reports that in August and September, a typhus fever
appeared among the horses.s The symptoms enumerated are
similar to those just described.

The contagious pleuro-pneumonia of cattle caused great
havoc in Holland from 1837 to 1839. According to official
statements, no fewer than twenty-eight thousand four hundred
and eighty-nine were lost. The Government gave compensa-
tion to the amount of 30 florins {golden) for every animal
destroyed to stay the contagion, and in this way 678,089
florins were expended.*

1 Seibert. Kreutzer Correspondenzbl. fiir die Veter. Med. vol. ii, p. 28.

2 Gurlt und Hertwig. Magazin fur Thierarzn. vol. vi. p. 131.
' Wirth. Op. cit. p. 301.

* Pommer. Schweiz. Zeitschrift, vol. v. p. 352.

300

History of Animal Plagues.

In September of this year the Cattle Plague appeared in
the Danubian Principalities, and was most destructive. It is
supposed to have first shown itself in Bondjak, Lower
Bessarabia, where many thousand draught bullocks had been
long detained without pasturage or other sufficient food
around the salt lakes that are administered by Government.
The autumn had been very damp and the winter exceedingly
severe, but this did not influence in the slightest degree the
progress of the pestilence.^

In Turkey it appears to have shown itself in a very deadly
form. ' Epizooties have destroyed, in these latter years, much
cattle in Turkey ; above all has horned stock suffered in 1837
in Thrace and Roumelia, and in 1838 in Bosnia and Croatia.
We have seen villages in the roads of which dead cattle lay
by scores. Pigs and sheep have also been decimated, chiefly
in Bosnia.' 2 It may be noted that epidemic plague broke out
among the population of RoumeHa in July, 1837, and was
generally spread in September, when it proved very fatal. At
the same time a meteor was seen, and great swarms of insects
appeared, particularly in the Pashaliks of Pi'iserend and
Pristina. These were chiefly Locusta verrucivora. Cicada orni,
Tangypiis varius, and Stoiiioxys calcitrans.

In Lower Austria, the Cattle Plague was also decimating
the herds. ' The most wide-spread and destructive disease
was the rinderpest. It attacked the cattle chiefly in the
districts bordering upon Hungary and Moravia, and was
introduced from these countries. It raged with but little
interruption throughout the year, and attacked altogether four
hundred and sixty-six head of stock, of which three hundred
and fifty-one died or were slaughtered.'

Strange to relate, the Cattle Plague is mentioned for this
year as having been introduced into the kingdom of Naples,
where it caused considerable loss. Its almost yearly irruptions
into the Austrian and Prussian frontier provinces bordering
on Russia have been but little noticed ; because, probably,
though these had done much damage, the sanitary police

1 Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, October, 1845.
- BouL La Turquie d'Europe, vol. i. p. 509.

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 301

measures enforced had prevented its extension beyond a
certain point. In times of peace there was but little danger
of Europe again suffering from its wide-spread and fearful
ravages, so long as the Austrian and Prussian authorities had
to deal with it. Professor Nanzio, whose description of the
symptoms and post-mortem appearances we omit, as contain-
ing nothing new, says : ' Without doubt this malady was
imported by certain cattle from Dalmatia, which were brought
hither by ship and disembarked at Barletta, and were, after
being bathed and swam in the sea, gathered together to
pasture in the vicinity of Ofanto, where they mixed with those
of a man — the Signor Martino. In about five days afterwards
the beasts from Dalmatia began to die, and with them many
others with which they had consorted; so that in a short
time there died about seventy of the Dalmatian cattle and a
great number of the others. This accident at first gave rise
to great alarm, and, ignorant of the nature of the malady, its
origin was ascribed to all kinds of causes — to the change of
climate and pasture, to the salt water of the sea which the
animals had drunk, and to the fatigue of the journey. Upon
this view of the origin of the malady, it was opportunely
decided that the Dalmatian beasts should be removed from
these pastures and conducted from the borders of the province
of Capitanata, to a farm belonging to a nobleman, Signor
Mita, near Foggia. But they had scarcely arrived at this
place when about ten of them died, and it quickly became
manifest that these beasts had infected those of Mita ; others
began to sicken, and, what is worthy of remark, a certain
buffalo was attacked with the malady, which seemed to affect
it in a less pernicious manner, and from it the disease was
communicated anew to other bovine creatures.

' In this way, from place to place, was the plague carried
from Capitanata to the province of Bari, while other Dalmatian
cattle took it directly to Bitritto and Terlizzo.

' Presently the epizooty showed itself in Taranto, and
rumour said that it had been transferred to that state by a
drove of pigs which were imported from the province of Bari.
, . . The Hungarian cattle-plague {peste bos-Ungarica) is of an

302

History of Animal Plagues.

eminently contagious nature. It only attacks cattle and
buffaloes {animali vaccini e buffalini), but it is less destructive
in the latter. This peculiarity was observed by the celebrated
Lancisi ; but the other authorities who have since written on
this subject have not mentioned the buffalo, and assert that
this plague is peculiar only to the vaccine species. My obser-
vation, therefore, confirms that of Lancisi ; and, I am, besides,
confident that if the buffalo be the first animal attacked in
any large herd of cattle, it will communicate the malady to
the vaccine species, as happened in the farms belonging to the
Marquis Filiasi and Signor Franciosa, of Foggia. It is certain
that no other animals, nor yet the human species, are liable
to this pest ; otherwise its continued presence for three months
in Puglie, and the consumption of the flesh of the diseased
beasts as food, must have given some proof of this. I myself,
without knowing it, partook of the flesh, both boiled and
roast, when I lived in an inn in that place, without suffering
any ill effects.

' My observatidns have demonstrated that the bovine plague
cannot be engrafted on any other kind of animal ; in fact, the
inoculation of a dog with the mucus from the nostrils, or from
the mouth of a sick ox, did not cause in it any disease ; and
the only effects produced by the inoculation of two sheep
consisted in the appearance, two days afterwards, of a slight
reddening of the incised parts,- due in all probability to the
irritation caused by the incisions.

' Neither could it be said that the Cattle Plague followed
the inoculation with its virus in man, because I can aver that
the provincial veterinary surgeon of Capitanata, in dissecting
three cows which had died of the disease, reported having
wounded one of his fingers, and took no precautions in having
it bandaged ; nor was he able at the moment to wash his
hands in water, but continued to imbrue them in the mucus,
the excrement, the corrupted water, and the pus, without
afterwards suffering the slightest harm. I myself saw the
scar on the thumb of the left hand, and was unable to trace
any evil effects. ... In dissecting the spinal column of the
same calf, there was found a great multitude of the larvse of

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 303

the oestrus bovis, closely arranged near each other, between the
membrane of the medulla spinalis and the internal surface of
the vertebral canal. How these larvae came to be generated
in such an obscure situation appears to me open to discussion.
This calf had been killed, and was not long dead. On taking
off the skin, not an opening or puncture was visible, and there
was no internal trace of alteration which could be ascribed to
the bites of the gadfly, nor yet were there any deposits of ova.
It is well known that the bovine gadflies usually deposit their
eggs on the sides of the dorsal region, and that the larvse are
found in the soft parts of the body of these animals ; but
I know of no author who has found them in the spinal
canal.' ^

The ' contagious foot-rot' of sheep was imported into the
sheepfolds about Potsdam.^

In Wurtemburg (in the circle of the Danube) vulpine rabies
was reported. From Kircheim it is stated : ' For some time
there has been a disease among the hill-foxes which has de-
stroyed a great many, their bodies being found lying about.
Recently, men and cattle have been bitten by these mad
animals, and cats have become affected with madness by
them, according to the evidence of many people. Luckily, up
to the present time no person wounded by them has shown
any symptoms of hydrophobia.' ^ From Buchau, in the same
region, it is notified that 'there have appeared many mad
foxes, which have injured men and cattle.'* Many cases of
infection in men and animals, from the bites of rabid foxes,
were also recorded as having occurred in 1836-7.^

Rabies in dogs was prevalent in Lithuania ;6 in Branden-
burg large numbers were destroyed in consequence of this
malady;'^ and in Lower Austria, Knolz reports that in three
districts there were many mad dogs, which attacked people

^ Nanzio. Delia Epizoozia Bosungarica delle Puglie. Giornal delle Utili
Conoscenze, vol. ii. p. 347.

2 Sanitatsbericht d. Provinz Brandenburg, 1837.

3 Correspondenzbl. d. Wurtemburg. Landw. Vereins, vol. xiv. p. 262,

* Ibid. p. 287. 6 Hering. Magazin fur Thierheillcunde, vol. v.

" Gurll und Hertwig. Magazin, vol. vi. p. 447.
^ Sanitatsbericht d. Provinz Brandenburg, 1837.

304 History of Animal Plagues.

and animals. Two of the people died, and all domestic
animals so bitten perished.

In Lithuania the contagious pleuro-pneumonia of cattle
and sheep small-pox were epizootic. The first-named disease
was also rife in Brandenburg, and the latter malady was also
rather severe during the last half of the year about Potsdam,
Frankfurt, Konigsberg, and Soldiner.

Anthrax (milzbrand) was destructive in Brandenburg
during the summer months, and in some localities assumed
an epizootic form. In Lower Austria it also occasioned some
loss during the hot weather, cattle and sheep being the
principal victims. It was reported as destroying cattle in
Switzerland in July. It was also epizootic in many depart-
ments of France : ' For a month (September) a very grievous
disease for the farmers has exercised its ravages in the depart-
ments of Haute- Vienne, Creuse, and Correze ; this disease is
nothing else than charbon. Its mortality is almost general in
those localities which are situated principally on the banks of
streams and in marshy places. This malady breaks out sud-
denly, and without any premonitory symptoms. Some animals
fall down beneath their load ; and this happens more particu-
larly with numbers of horses, especially those belonging to
millers, some of whom have not a riding animal left. Other
creatures drop under the yoke when labouring ; but the
greater number perish in the stables, where they are found
dead, distended and black, all this occurring from the evening
until the next morning. It is well to add that all the dogs
which have eaten of these dead animals have died in a very
short time, and with the same symptoms of disease ; the same
has happened to many wolves which were found lying dead
not far off. The charbon manifests itself by a swelling of the
members or the body, sometimes individually, sometimes
generally and all at once ; the animals straddle on their limbs,
and can scarcely move ; their legs become rigid ; there is
general meteorization of the abdomen ; the hair stands up-
right, bristly, and gets smooth again as the swelling extends
to the different parts of the body. If we cut these swellings
with a razor or a bistoury, there escaped from the incision a

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 305

vapour or mephitic gas, which often produced an audible
sound like that of a burning slow-match. The eyes became
haggard and squinting, vision gradually failed, and when
moving the animal stopped short and fell, never more to rise.
After death the body continued to swell until after putrefac-
tion set in, which was not long. But no time was to be lost
m getting the dead animals underground ; for there was the
greatest danger in doing anything with them, save burying
them deeply.' 1

In the arrondissement of Brest, after the damp heat of July,
epizootic erysipelatous fever {febris erysipelatosa maligna) at-
tacked pigs, and within a fortnight but few were left in the
villages of Lilia, Perros, Tremdnarc'h, Kvenny, Lostrourc'h,
and Le Rem.^ In Switzerland, the same malady {rothlauf)
prevailed to some extent.^

The peculiar malady known as 'fragility of the bones' in
cattle, was still prevalent in Hesse. It was the subject of in-
vestigation by Herr Brunck, burgomaster of Fiirfelden. It
was very destructive, and chiefly attacked cows kept in damp,
ill- ventilated stables, and fed on all kinds of bad or artificial
food, without sufficient exercise.^

Epidemic cholera prevailed at Rome and elsewhere this
year; and from the month of March until the end of 1838,
both during and subsequent to this serious epidemy, the
' disease of fowls ' broke out in a malignant form in Germany
among poultry, pheasants, pigeons, and other birds.s In
France the same malady, named ' contagious typhus,' occa-
sioned a great mortality among fowls during 1837 and '1838.^

In February an unheard-of quantity of wild ducks, the
greater part being dead, was thrown by the sea on the coast
m the department of the Landes, France. Some individuals
collected as many as five hundred, and the total number
gathered was estimated to amount to twenty thousand.^

^ Hurtreld'Arbaual. Dictionn. Vet(frinaire, vol. i. p. 421.

, ™- ^""^1" 1^ Soc. Vet^rinaire du Finisterre, vol. ii. p. 20

s rwTn^H n, "M^'g^^i'^ f">^ die Gesammte Thierhcilkunde, 1838.

Cr«r//und /Jer/zvt£. Op. cit. vol. vi. p. 131

"Recueil de Med. Ydtd-r. vol. xvii. p. 308
'Correspondenzbl. d. Wurtemburg, Landw. Vereins, vol. xiii.

20

3o6

History of Animal Plagues.

There was a severe drought at the Cape of Good Hope,
which was followed by a great mortality among horses,
known there by the name of ' horse-sickness.' It will be re-
ferred to hereafter.

About this time two diseases of a disastrous nature attacked
cultivated plants in Germany. One was the ' potato disease,'
which many naturalists, and especially Von Martius, proved
to be due to the development of mycoid growths, which were
also the medium of contagion. The second disease was very
destructive to the vine. It began at Potsdam in 1835, and
ravaged the Rhine vineyards until 1840. It was of an exan-
thematous nature (the Schwiiid-Kra7ikheit of the Germans),
and consisted in the development of a mycoid fungus on the
leaves of the plant.

A.D. 1838. The winter was long in the north of Europe and
the spring-time late ; when it did arrive it was very cold.
This was particularly the case in Russia ; and at St. Peters-
burg, in Livonia and Courland, the month of May was so
cold that all vegetation was checked and snow fell in these
northern regions. In southern countries, migratory birds
were observed late in the year, and northern birds appeared in
southern latitudes. In January and February, wild swans
were seen in many parts of Germany, and in large numbers at
Havre, France, At Leipsic it is noted : ' This winter very
many birds, natives of the far north, arrived here, especially
birds of prey, which killed hares and partridges. Sportsmen
declare that such an occurrence has never been known here.' ^
In the spring and summer, swarms of caterpillars and insects
were very numerous and frequent on the Continent. So
numerous were the latter in one locality, that they delayed a
diligence for five minutes.^

In the spring, an epizooty of catarrhal fever, or ' influenza,'
is reported as affecting flocks of sheep in low-lying localities
in England.^

The epizooty among pigs in Ireland, mentioned for 1836,

Pohh. Archives, 1838, p. 396.
- Pleininger. Correspondenzbl. d. Wiirteiiiburg. Landw. Vereins, vol. xiii.
3 The Veterinarian, vol. xii. p. 240.

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 307

still continued, and was very fatal in Munster.^ For England,
Youatt states : ' We have accounts of an inflammatory
. epizooty among pigs, rapid and fatal in its course, and attacking
by preference store pigs rather than those put up to fatten.' ^
Professor Prinz, of Dresden, in his report of the epizootic
• diseases for this year in Saxony, says that their predominant
: symptoms were of a bilious and nervous character.^

Don Ramon Paez, describing the horses of the Llanos of
: South America, casually alludes to a severe panzooty which
; appeared about this time, caused, it was supposed, by
( decomposing vegetable matter. ' Their price (horses) is
i greatly enhanced of late, in consequence of a devastating
c disease, which has been raging among them for several years
\ past. Horses were so plentiful in the Llanos at one time,
t that a large export trade in their hides was carried on with
f foreign countries. A good horse, which then only brought five
c dollars, now costs from eighty to a hundred, and even more,
.-according to the fancy of the parties interested. Great
rnumbers of the inhabitants were also carried away by the
jsame scourge, which swept over the land like the cholera,
r not even sparing the fish in the rivers.

' This frightful epidemic, which the Llaneros have appropri-
.iately styled Peste, or plague, is supposed to have originated in
t the great primeval forest of San Camilo, at the head waters
>: of the Apure, from decomposition of the vegetable detritus
a accumulated there during centuries. From thence, travelling
-•eastward along the course of the river, the epidemic continued
: its ravages among the inhabitants of the towns and villages
^ situated on the right bank, attacking first one place and then
i another, until the wholeprovince scarcely escaped depopulation,
l Even when the mortality abated, the country, which until then
hhad possessed a most healthful climate, never recovered its
i former salubrity ; fevers of a more or less dangerous character
.. prevailed from that time, especially towards the end of the
; rainy season, while the raising of horses has been entirely
a abandoned in consequence.

1 The Limerick standard. Youati. On the Pig

Fnnz. Magazin fiir die Gesammte Thierheilkunde, 1838.

20 — 2

3oB History of Animal Plagues.

' The first symptoms of this epidemic appeared among
the crocodiles, whose hideous carcases might then be seen
floating down the stream in such prodigious numbers, that
both the v/aters and air of that fine region were tainted with
their effluvium. It was observed that they were first seized
with a violent fit of coughing, followed by a black vomit, which
compelled them to quit their watery home, and finally find
a grave among the thickets on the river-banks. The disease
next attacked the fish ^and other inhabitants of the water,
with equal violence, until it was feared the streams would
be depopulated. The fearful mortality among them can be
better estimated from the fact that, for more than a month,
the rippling waves of that noble river, the Apure, were
constantly washing down masses of putrefaction, its placid
surface being by them actually hidden from view for several
weeks.

' The next victims were the pachydermata of the swamps,
and it was a pitiable sight to see the sluggish chigiiircs
(capyvaras) and the grizzly wild boars dragging their para-
lyzed hind-quarters after them ; hence the name of " derren-
gadera," applied to this disease.

' Not even monkeys, in their aerial retreats, escaped the
contagion, and their melancholy cries resounded day and
night through the woods like wailings of the eternally lost.

' It is a singular fact, that while this scourge did not spare
any of the countless droves of horses roaming the savannas of
the Apure and adjacent plains, donkeys and horned cattle
were seldom, if ever, attacked ; so that, by their aid, the
; owners of cattle-farms were enabled to prevent the entire
dispersion of their herds.' ^

About this time, a curious and inexplicable epizooty
among horses was attracting the attention of veterinarians in
Germany. It consisted in a very malignant disease of the
generative organs, which, from its supposed resemblance to a
certain malady in the human species, was designated the
'venereal' or 'syphilitic disease' of horses. Besides this
designation, however, it was also termed the 'chancrous

1 Ravwn Paez. Wild Scenes in South America. London, 1863.

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 309

epizooty,' ' pox,' ' venereal typhus,' ' Hanoverian disease,'
' venereal nervous disease,' ' epizootic paralysis,' ' epizootic
paraplegia,' ' glanders of the generative organs,' but perhaps
most frequently as the ' coition malady ' {inaladie du co'it). It
was very malignant in its character, slow and insidious in its
course, complicated in its nature, attacking only stallions and
mares, never geldings, and differing in its most essential
features from human syphilis. Before the year 1796 it had
not been mentioned, if it was known, and it is only in that
year that the veterinarian, Ammon, observed it for the first
time in a district to the north of Prussia ; it was first described
by that author and the veterinarian Dickhauser a few years
afterwards.! Many writers assert that the disease was known
long before in some parts of Russia, but nothing is certain
with regard to its previous history until Ammon and Pro-
fessor Hertwig, of Berlin, definitively settled its appearance
in the kingdom of Prussia in the district of Trakehnen, where
it existed among the stallions and mares until 1801. It
reappeared again in 1807, and from that period has again and
again broken out in Germany. In the district of Bromberg
it was studied, in 18 15, by the veterinarian Waltersdorf ; and
from 1 8 17 to 1820, Professor Haveman investigated its
character in Hanover. In 1817 and 1818 it once more mani-
fested itself in the district of Trakehnen, where one of the
largest breeding establishments in the Prussian dominions is
maintained. Between this period and 1821, a disease the
.symptoms of which correspond exactly with those described as
. peculiar to this affection, prevailed as a true epizooty in Styria.
In 1821, 1826, 1827 and 1828, the ' maladie du coit ' caused
serious damage in many countries belonging to the Austrian
Empire, but chiefly in Bohemia. In 1830 it was observed for
the first time in Switzerland, in the Canton of Berne ; and
from^ 1830 to 1832, Latour had an opportunity of studying it
in France, where, until then, it had not been seen. From
1833 to 1839 the provinces of Leibschiitz and Oeltz, in Upper
Silesia, as well as Pomerania, suffered severely from the

' Amnion and Dickhauser. Gazette Hyppologique. Tenneker's Zeitunc fiir
1 ferdezucht, Pferdehandel, etc. 1803.

3fo History of Animal Plagues.

epizooty, and it was again submitted to a careful study by the
veterinarian Haxthausen. In 1840 it broke out afresh in
Silesia, and was , far more destructive than it had hitherto
been, its symptoms being more aggravated and its extension
very wide ; it persisted until the following year. Since 1842
the disease has not been frequent in the Prussian dominions,
having only appeared among a few horses in the province of
Posen, a circumstance doubtless due to the wise and rigorous
sanitary measures enforced by the government of that country
in 1840. In Wurtemberg, only some isolated and benignant
cases "have been seen. In Bohemia, in recent times, the
disease has prevailed for many years to a serious extent, and
has been carefully reported upon by Maresch. In Southern
Russia the disease often prevails with great violence among
the horses, and it has even been seen in the imperial
breeding establishments of that country ; so that good
authorities have maintained that Russia was originally the
home of the malady. Neither in England, in Italy, nor yet
in Belgium has it been observed, but a French army veter-
inary surgeon, M. Signol, saw the same disease in Algiers in
1847, among the horses of the Rigas Arabs, who had lost
about six hundred animals by its ravages. Signol termed
the disease ' epizootic paraplegia,' but it was known to the
natives by the name of 'daaurith.' So late as 1855, General
Daumas writes that the disease is unfortunately too common
in Algeria, and that the Arabs know it well by the designa-
tion of ' el dourine.' He says that among certain Arab tribes,
chiefly those of the province of Constantine, it has caused
great destruction, and that on many occasions it has produced
a fearful mortality among the mares in foal. In 185 1 and
1852, it occasioned much loss to the horse-breakers in the
south of France, in the department of the Hautes-Pyrenees.
where it raged in the district of Tarbes and in the valley of
Lourdes. It is only developed in reproductive horses, and is
propagated by a contagium in the act of copulation ; but it
is not known for certain whether it is primarily developed in
the mare or stallion, or both. Roll thinks the latter is the
most likely, and that an abuse of the generative functions in

Period from A. D. 182,6 to A.D. 1840, 311

the male, and the existence of a vaginal catarrh in the female,
may be occasional causes of the malady.^ The propagation
of the affection is usually owing to the stud stallions being
diseased when put to the mares, and though the stallions may
contaminate the mares, yet it is no less the fact that these
may infect a healthy stallion. Diseased mares may transmit
the malady to other mares standing near them, if the contact
of the genital organs is possible. The vehicle of contagion is
the urethral discharge in the stallion, or that of the vagina in
the mare. The period of incubation is, according to Maresch,
from eight days to two months.

The external symptoms of the disease vary according to
particular circumstances, such as sex, its spontaneous origin (?)
or as the result of contagion ; it is also, of course, influenced
by constitutional idiosyncrasy. In general it is characterized
by marked and continued depression of the nervous powers ;
by mucous discharge, especially from the generative organs ;
by disturbed functions of the cutaneous, lymphatic, and
glandular systems ; by the consequent formation of ulcers
upon, and of knots in and under, the skin ; by paralysis of the
hinder extremities ; and, finally, by fatal emaciation.^ In the
stallion the first real symptoms consist in tumefactions, or
rather local and circumscribed tumours on the skin, showing
themselves at first in the region of the croup. They differ
from the tumours of farcy in being formed within the texture
of the skin itself, and not having a subcutaneous connection.
They are small, of a circular form, have their margins well-
defined, and are never confluent. With the appearance of
these there are other symptoms which only a careful observer
could detect as diagnostic of the malady ; these are variable
appetite, swelling of the sheath, as if of inflammation, but
which is simply oedema, often reaching as far forward as the
umbilical region. Similar enlargements show themselves
sometimes on one or other of the posterior limbs, and there is
often lameness of one of these — most frequently the right leg.
The horse has lost his gaiety, and does not appear willing to

^ Roll. Manuel de Pathologic, etc., des Animaux Domestiques, vol. i. p. 508.
Die Venerische Krankheit der Pferde, etc. Breslau.

3^2 History of Animal Plagues.

move ; the hind-quarters become feeble, and the croup begins
to waste; the condition disappears ; the hair is bristly 'and
he lymphatic glands, principally those of the throat, become
si ghdy engorged. In some cases the cutaneous tumours are
preceded for some weeks by a transient eruption on the penis
and much irntation of the urethral orifice. Some observers'

Is er th.. .'l,"" ^ ^ ^\ ^°"^^^"^ement ; while others
assert that stallions, to all appearance quite healthy, have
com„.unicated the disease to mares, and have themselve!
become affected as a consequence-showing the distinguishing
tumours on the croup. This seems to be well proved, for the
most minute inspection of stallions which have infected mares
Has not always furnished evidence of the disease. But when
with the male, the malady is due to contagion, the local
symptoms on the genitals are strongly marked, and precede
by a certain time the general or constitutional effects The
tumours on the skin are not constant, but usually after from
four to ten days disappear suddenly or gradually, though
only to reappear in other places, and sometimes accompanied
by an erysipelatous inflammation of one or other parts of the
body, and even badly suppurating enlargements ; in which
case there will, in all probability, be febrile disturbance. A
mucous discharge is not unfrequently observed from the
nostrils, and even from the eyes. Micturition is performed
with much difficulty, and attended with violent efforts;
pressure on the loins causes the manifestation of augmented
and gradually increasing sensibility. Besides the oedema of
the sheath and scrotum, there appears to be great relaxation
of the genital organs, and the penis cannot be entirely re-
tracted. As a consequence of this, circumscribed engorge-
ments, simulating paraphymosis, form on it, but there is an
absence of inflammation, and the organ is flaccid and cold. At
rare intervals reddish-coloured patches appear on its surface,
but the mucous membrane lining the urethra is always pale,
and even bloated-looking ; if any sores are present, they are
only accidental, and not a result of the disease. The act of
coition is but languidly performed, and the ejaculation of the

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 313

semen appears to cause pain. In the mare this disease is
much better defined, and more recognisable in its earlier stages.
The animal appears to be ' horsing,' and yet the natural
desire does not seem to be appeased after the copulative act ;
she is uneasy, stamps a good deal with her hind feet, and
whisks her tail about. After this, within some weeks, more
rarely in a few days after copulation, a peculiar depression of
spirits, resembling narcotism, is noticed ; the vulva appears to
be slightly tumefied, and the swelling extends around its
margin to the perineum and the udder, but is cold to the
touch, and unattended with pain or sensibility — in fact, it only
offers a passive oedema of these textures. Sometimes the
tumefaction is confined to one side of this region, and then it
causes the vulva to look as if deformed, and shows the clitoris
to be also swollen and projecting outwards. On a close
inspection, the mucous membrane of the vagina is found
relaxed, slightly reddened and swollen ; but afterwards pale,
and with here and there deep-red blotches, like those on the
penis of the stallion. The secretion of mucus in time becomes
viscid and ropy, and contains a free acid analogous to phos-
phoric acid ; it adheres strongly to the neighbouring parts,
and has a tendency to form dry brown, yellow, or reddish
crusts. If the mare is in foal, abortion is frequent at this
period, if not before. Hertwig asserts that abortion takes
place towards the third or the fourth month, but that this
event has no influence on the progress of the malady. The
few mares which live until their term of gestation expires
bring forth small and delicate foals, which die in a very short
time after birth, sometimes in a few hours.

At this stage the cutaneous tumours begin to show them-
selves, and the mucous secretion from the vagina becomes so
abundant as to cover the tail and the hind-legs ; at length it
acquires such a viscid consistency that it fairly glues together
the sides of the vagina, and can only be expelled when the
animal makes violent efforts, or is subjected to active move-
ments. In some few cases the vaginal membrane is of a
yellowish tint, and exhibits spots or streaks of a bright or
deep red ; and in other cases, small miliary, hard, flattened

314

History of Animal Plagues.

tumours are seen, which bleed easily when touched. This is
reckoned a bad sign.

At other times the lining membrane of the vulva is raised
up into infiltrated, gelatinous folds ; and at a later period
corded or conical excrescences are observed, or vesicles of
variable size containing a yellow fluid. These vesicles, in
breaking, cause a slight loss of substance. According to
Maresch, the vesicular eruption was not noticed in the last
invasion of the malady in Bohemia ; but there were frequently
found white spots about the size of a grain of millet, disposed
in groups,- and apparently due to tumefaction of the follicles
caused by an exaggerated cellular proliferation. Roll has
seen among mares, in an important stud in Austria, somewhat
deep diphtheritic ulcerations, with greatly infiltrated and in-
jected borders, in the vulva and uterus.

The disease, from this period, proceeds in the same manner
in the stallion and mare to its terminations. It may last for
a greater, or less length of time, and the cutaneous tumours
may even disappear entirely until an advanced stage ; indeed,
all the local symptoms may be irregular. Not so, however,
the general ones: the debility constantly augments; the
muscular power becomes feebler and more marked ; the hind-
parts are moved with difficulty, and there is evidently a loss
of power in them, as they sway about, showing the nervous
system to be involved. Partial paralysis now usually mani-
fests itself : in some it is only a single muscle, in others it is
an organ or a limb, which loses its nervous energy ; more fre-
quently it is the posterior limbs, and of these the right one
appears to be oftenest attacked. Paraplegia and epileptic
seizures are common complications. Shiverings, never of the
whole body, but occupying individual layers of muscles only,
and in single muscles, resembling the catchings induced by
galvanism, may be observed. Paralysis may affect the tongue,
an ear, one of the lips, an eyelid, and sometimes even the
muscles of the mouth and jaws ; in which case the animal
stands with its mouth hanging open, and is unable to eat. In
fact, the paralytic affection varies as much in the form which
it assumes as in the degree, the situation, and the symptoms

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 315

accompanying it; but the organs or textures so affected
always preserve their sensibility and heat.

The functions of digestion are not so much altered as to
prevent the appetite from displaying itself, though irregularly,
until the last stage, when it disappears. The hinder ex-
tremities are always exempt from the cutaheous tumours, and
these commonly permit the exudation of a sero-albuminous
fluid, which glues the hairs together and then ceases, only to
return again. In proportion to the duration and number of
the tubercles in the skin and the ulcers on the surface, is
the liability of the large glands to take part in the disease.
Swelling of these takes place, and in very many instances a
chronic glandular affection is the consequence, which not un-
frequently terminates in glanders. When the formation of the
tubercles has prevailed throughout the course of the disease,
and the morbid secretion has been checked, it ends in farcy,
rapidly followed by a fatal result. The conjunctival mem-
brane participates in the morbid state, secreting an unhealthy
matter ; the eyes sink deep in their cavities, and the cornea
becomes diseased, and often ulcerated.

This condition often lasts for weeks, or even months, until
at last the appetite disappears, the animal falls down and
cannot get up without assistance ; and often it sits on its
hind-quarters, like a dog. Death soon takes place, or the
animals are destroyed. This is the most frequent result, for
cures are but seldom effected, and then they are long and
tedious, and liable to frequent relapses. It but too often
happens that recovery, though due more to nature than to
art, is incomplete ; and paralysis of some part of the body
is almost certain to persist, and glanders and other fatal dis-
orders are apt to occur months after the supposed recovery.

A variety of this affection, which Strauss ^ has named ' the
pruriginous disease of reproductors,' attacks stallions, espe-
cially those which are well bred and in lax condition. It
consists in a manifestation of pruritis in different parts of the
body, due to irritation of the sensory nerves of the posterior
extremities. This is so violent that the animal continually

* Strauss. Mittheilungen CEsterreichliclier Veterinaire.

3i6 History of Anmial Plagues.

rubs itself until the skin, thickened and swollen, is covered
with sanguinolent, unhealthy ulcerations, which, becoming
gangrenous and increasing in number, at last induce such
extreme agony that, though the appetite continues, the
patient dies in a state of extreme marasmus

The duration of the malady is from four to eight or nine
months, and even to twelve or fifteen months ; and, what is
very remarkable, throughout its whole course the pulse is not
quickened, but continues sluggish, and almost without change
to the end. ^ '

The causes of the malady, beyond its contagiousness, are
hidden in obscurity. It is frequently and apparently of spon-
taneous origin, both in the horse and mare, and at the same
time appears to be communicable from one to the other

This communication, however, seems to take place rather
as a consequence of the local excitement depending on
the generative act, under a peculiar epizootic constitution,
predisposing to the development of glandular disease, than
. as the result of the absorption of a specific poison. Its
most striking features are the peculiarities attending its
spread : in many countries it is unknown, in others but
partially so, while in others again, such as Hanover, Silesia,
and Hungary, its ravages are rather severe, and need the most
stringent legislative measures to keep it in check. In some of
Its outbreaks it has occasionally, if not nearly always, con-
fined itself to a certain district, sometimes to only a few
localities, and even to some particular stables. In the countries
where the stud stallions are regularly worked on farms, the
malady has never been observed to break out spontaneously;
but in those localities where it appears to reign as an enzooty,
the horses are kept exclusively for breeding purposes, have
much Eastern blood in them, and are of a nervous tempera-
ment ; and it is, besides, in these places that horses intended
solely for the saddle are bred. The stallions, instead of
travelling from village to village, have the mares brought to
them, and it has been imagined that the fatigue and expo-
sure the latter are subjected to has much influence in its
production. Of the contagious character of the malady, the

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 317

experiments conducted at the Toulouse Veterinary College
in 1854, by Professors Prince and Lafosse, conclusively
testify. But the virus would appear to differ from all other
contagia, in that, when applied in an artificial manner to
the mucous membrane of a healthy mare's vagina, it remains
inactive ; so that the transmission of the malady can only
take place in the act of coition. Animals of the same species,
living and cohabiting with the diseased, and brought into
communication with them in every way, except this of
copulation, do not become affected. Foals and geldings are
exempt, and men who had excoriations on their hands while
dressing diseased animals have not suffered any inconvenience.
Mares are more exposed to the affection than stallions,
though its progress is much less favourable to the latter ; the
best-bred stallions are more susceptible than the under-bred,
which have been known to copulate with diseased mares, and
not receive the infection, and yet transmit it on the same day
to other mares which were previously healthy.

It has been supposed, and with much reason, that the
disease was conveyed from the Government ' haras ' at Tarbes,
in France, to Algeria.

The appearances presented on examination after death
are great emaciation and anaemia throughout the body ;
in the mare the lining membrane of the sexual organs,
and sometimes that of the uterus, shows that it has been
affected with a chronic catarrhal inflammation, and has, be-
sides, diphtheritic ulcerations, erosions, or condylomae. In
stallions, the conjunctival tissue of the sheath and scrotum is
frequently infiltrated with serum, or has undergone sclerous
degeneration. The mucous membrane of the nostrils is often
the seat of a catarrh, and the nasal cavities and sinuses are
filled with a viscid flocculent mucus. The lymphatic glands
in the intermaxillary space are hypeilrophied, or filled with
purulent deposits ; those in the inguinal region are either in-
durated or extremely softened. Abscesses, which may be
metastatic, are sometimes found in the testicle, the spermatic
cord, or the lungs ; these latter are generally gorged with blood ;
the heart and large vessels are flabby ; the blood is unctuous

3i8 History of Animal Plagues.

and adhesive ; when extracted from a vein during life it gives a
white and abundant clot, without consistence and full of serum.
The neurilemma of the principal nervous trunks of the
paralyzed limb is thickened and infiltrated, and the cellular
tissue in their vicinity, as well as that of the intermuscular tissue,
is filled with a considerable quantity of a yellow gelatinous'
fluid. In many cases, the spinal cord and brain are infiltrated ;
the arachnoid membrane has lost its transparency, and its
space often contains a large quantity of fluid. The brain is
constantly softened, and the ventricles filled with serum ; the
spinal cord is softened to a still greater degree, and the
serous effusion is yet more noticeable, especially towards the
lumbar region.

The prognosis of the malady is uncertain ; some cases
which have so far advanced as to exhibit paralytic symptoms
have recovered ; while others not nearly so serious looking
have yet slowly reached a fatal termination, notwithstanding
all attempts at a cure. Castration, in the stallion, has some-
times arrested its progress when paralysis has been present.^

A.D. 1839. In the government of Minsk, Lithuania, ovine
small-pox was very prevalent, and, among cattle, rheumatism,
haematuria, and epizootic abortion.^ In the department of
Doubs, France, the last-named accident appears to have been
very prevalent. 'Abortions and cases of difiicult parturi-
tion have been so numerous this. year, that in a single village,
where from fifty to sixty pregnant mares were collected, there
have only been four living foals. . . . M. Trelut ascribes
the great number of abortions observed to the excessive
drought, which has so affected the natural and artificial
prairies ; to the fatigue which these animals sustained in the
preceding autumn in consequence of the hardness of the
arable land, and also to the bad quality of their food, etc.'^

In Poland, Holland, and many parts of Germany, anthrax
was frequent.

E. Fischer. Nouveau Dictionn. etc, Veterinaires. Art. ' Coit (Maladie du).'
Recueil de Med. Veter. 1834, 1852, 1853, 1855. Rodloff, Rychna: Specielle
rathologieund Therapie, etc., Thierarzt. Roll. Manuel de Pathologic, etc. vol. ii.

- Adamowicz, Magazin fiir Thierheilkunde, vol. vi.

^ Recueil de Med. Vetc^r. vol. xviii.

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 319

From this year 'until 1841, a very universal epizootic fever,
or ' influenza,' appeared among horses over the greater part of
Europe. For this year it has been described in the north-
west of Germany by Gobel and Hilmer.i jhe epizooty was
observed to be more malignant than it had been for many
years past, and it was particularly virulent in large stables
where great numbers of horses were closely crowded. It had
been prevalent from the last quarter of the year.

Hilmer distinguished five distinct forms of the malady : a
catarrhal affection ; a catarrhal disease, w:ith complications
of the lungs, liver, or well-marked myelitis ; a synochal type ;
an asthenic, or torpid form ; a nervous and putrid condition.
The causes were unknown, and bleeding did much harm.
The disease did not make its appearance in Wurtemberg for
some time after it had been in North Germany. During this
epizooty, a curious outbreak of pericarditis, attacking forty-
seven horses, was observed by Worz at Stuttgart.^

Professor Hertwig, of Berlin, says : ' The prevailing charac-
ters of the diseases in 1839 were alike in every month. The
animals (especially horses) were first attacked with a catarrhal
or rheumatic complaint, which, in process of time, took on a
gastro-enteritic character, or else became complicated with
gastro-enteritis. The characters of pure inflammation were
rarely seen, or, if they were, they usually existed but a very
short time, and assumed a typhoid character. The contagious
diseases were the influenza and grease {mauke) in horses ;
contagious pleuro-pneumonia, dysentery, and at intervals foot-
and-mouth disease (aphthous fever), in cattle ; variola, inflam-
mation, and worms in the intestinal canal, putrid fever,
contagious foot-rot, in sheep and lambs ; anthrax in pigs ;
distemper in dogs, but not a single case of rabies. A very
fatal, and for the most part unknown, disease showed itself
among birds in March and April. The most prevalent of all
these diseases were the influenza among horses, and the
variola among sheep. The latter had appeared occasionally
during the first and second quarter of the year ; but towards

'^Dietrichs. Nebel \mdi Vix. Zeitschrift, vol. viii.
^ Hcring. Repert. d. Thierheilkunde, vol. i. p. 21.

320 History of Animal Plagues.

the end of the third quarter, and during the whole of the
ourth, It spread rapidly in every direction, and was particu-
larly prevalent towards the north-east and south-west, where
It not unfrequently assumed a very serious and fatal character
Ihe influenza appeared during the whole year, and especially
from the beginning of September to the end of December It
usually assumed the appearance of inflammation of the lungs
or hver, or, now and again, that of inflammation of the dia-
phragm, and was almost always combined with symptoms
of gastro-enteritis. The weakness induced by this disease was
so great, that m a few hours after the attack, the animal could
not walk without staggering. This rendered it evident that
the plentiful letting of blood, which in so many cases is so
beneficial, must not be practised here.'i

Rabies in poultry was observed at Konigsberg : ' On the
28th of November, 1839, many fowls were bitten by a mad
dog. About six weeks afterwards some of these animals
became very animated, crowed much, jumped about in a
strange fashion, and attacked one another. One of them tore
a piece out of a woman's dress and tried to swallow it ; after
some twenty or thirty hours they could no longer stand on
their feet, but fluttered as they lay on the ground. Eight died
and as many were killed. They all had paralysis of the
posterior extremities, the only constant symptom of animals
labouring under rabies.' 2

At Gustrow, in Mecklenburg, Gillmeister observed in the
springtime an epizooty among cows, which was styled carditis
and typhus enteritis; but which Heusinger thinks was an
anthrax fever. On the 19th of June fifteen animals were
attacked while at pasture, and when the temperature was
26° Reaumur ; several of these died on the spot, and all the
others except one two days afterwards. The post-mortem
appearances were more like those of anthrax than any other
malady.^

Mention is made this year of the ravages of the singular

1 Heriwig. Magazin fur die Gesamrnte Thieiheilkunde, 1840.
' Sanitatsbericht d. Reg. zu Konigsberg, 1840.
^Magazin fiir Thierheilkunde, vol. vii. p. 64.

Pe7'iod from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 321

malady among sheep, the 'trembling disease' ('maladie
tremblotante ' of the French, the ' gnuber,' ' traber,' ' wetz-
krankheit ' or ' schruckigsein ' of the Germans), in Scotland,
where it was designated the ' louping ill.' It had been very
prevalent for some seasons, and Hogg, the ' Ettrick Shepherd,'
gives a somewhat interesting description of it— the first, I
believe, in this country— as the ' thwarter-ill," trembling ' or
' leaping ill.' ' Twenty years ago its ravages were so con-
siderable, that farmers believed the disease to be infectious,
and that a stock that was infected by it was fully as unsafe as
a rotten one. It still exists on some straggling, dry farms
where the ground is visibly overstocked, and in dry frosty
seasons when the spring is hard and severe. In such places,
if March and April are barren, no succulent nor almost even
any green thing is to be attained by the poor creatures for a
long space of time, It is easy, then, to conceive the emaciated
state into which this must throw them. If at this time they
happen to get an overstretch in running or leaping, or even
a hasty start or crush in the fold, numbers fall a prey to this
disorder. Some will fall down and die in two or three
minutes ; others will lose the power of one side, and lie sprawl-
ing until they die of hunger ; others, again, will lie shivering,
and very sick at times, until death comes to their relief;
while a few will go a long time quite lame, sometimes carry-
ing one limb, and sometimes another, until they are likewise
quite exhausted. In the first case, when they fall down and
threaten instantly to expire, which is certainly an apoplectic
shock, I have seen bleeding, by cutting a piece from the tail,
or opening a vein inside the thigh, give immediate relief. In
all the other cases, the best method is to take them home,
and feed them with strengthening food, until they gradually
recover, . . . This distemper is peculiar to dry soils, and
prevails in dry barren springs, when the wind settles in the
east. If the sheep are in good condition, they are not nearly
so apt to take it ; but if they are either low of body, or the
wind has a tendency to centre easterly, the greatest care
must be taken to use the flocks gently, and it is highly com-
mendable to decline underlocking them altogether (cutting

21

322

History of Animal Plagues.

off the wool round the udder in ewes that are near the time
of yeaning), as the fatigue which they thereby undergo, and
the cold which penetrates to the most tender parts, are often
attended by the most fatal consequences.'

Since this period the disease has become well-known
throughout Scotland, and exhibits the same peculiarities as
on the Continent.^

Mr. W. Thompson speaks of a great destruction among
rooks in Ireland. ' Among adult birds, there was an extra-
ordinary fatality in the county of Westmeath on the night of
the great hurricane of January 7th, 1839. . . . The amazing
number of thirty-three thousand were picked up dead on the
shores of a lake some miles in length, and with extensive
rookeries on its borders.'^

An epizootic disease appears to have shown itself among
the ' gaours,' or wild bisons of the Himalayas. Sir W. Elliot,
speaking of the domestication of these creatures, says they
never lived for a longer period than three years in a tam.e
state. Some, he mentions, died suddenly from a disease
marked by a refusal of food, running from the nose, and an
abominable stench from the mouth. 'A similar disease, it
may be noted, prevailed, as I was informed, among the gaour
of the Sherwaroya, Shandamungalam, and Nilgiri hills.' ^

The year 1839 is an important one in our history, as in it
the malady generally known as the ' foot-and-mouth disease,'
and sometimes designated ' ekzema epizootica,' ' vesicular
murrain,' the ' aphthongular disease,' ' aphthous fever,' etc ,
was observed for the first time — so far as my researches testify
— in Great Britain. This epizooty, which in reality com-
menced during the previous year, was one of the most

^ Good descriptions of the malady are given by J. Fair. The Veterinarian,
vol. xii. p. 162. W. Afaithc7uson. The Edinburgh Veterinary Review, May,
1862.

* Thompson. Natural History of Ireland, vol. i. p. 319. A similar occurrence
was noted by Sir J. E. Tennent in Ceylon : ' A few years ago, during a violent
storm of thunder, such was the destruction of the crows that the beach for some
distance was covered with a black line of their remains, and the grove on which
they had been resting was to a great extent destroyed by the same flash.' — 'Ceylon,'
Tol. i. p. 172.

' Elliol. Madras Journal of Literature and Science, 1839.

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 323

extensive — appearing in regions hitherto unvisited — as it
has certainly been one of the best traced of any recorded in
this century. Like many other epizootics described in these
annals, the outbreak first made its appearance in the east —
towards Russia — and travelled to the extreme west of Europe ;
but not through the influence of a something in the air, so
mysterious to the unobservant and ignorant ; not by an
atmospherical ' miasma ' to puzzle the learned ; but palpably
through the medium of a contagium transmitted from diseased
to healthy animals, the introduction and spread of which
could, in the great majority of cases, be readily traced. This
contagium comported itself in this irruption as in other
outbreaks of transmissible diseases ; when it first appeared in
a locality it affected the majority of the animals therein, and
soon ceased its ravages ; but it more frequently only subsided
for a time, breaking out again and again during the same or
successive years, when circumstances favoured its recrudes-
cence. If the malady generally followed a direction from east
to west in its course over a certain portion of this hemisphere,
it did not do so in passing from one province, town, or village
to another ; but continually followed the routes of commerce,
and was carried to and from markets, fairs, etc., in a very
irregular manner. The extension of the epizooty towards the
west is a fact well established by the records published at the
time ; but it is also'suspected that from its birthplace it may
have extended in Russia in a northerly direction— that which
it took in Eastern Prussia— to the south, and probably even
farther eastward. We will, however, only follow it in its
advance to and course through Britain.

Russia.— Beginning with Russia, we have for 1838 already
given a description of the weather, etc., in the early part of
that year. Accounts from that country show that the epizooty
prevailed at the commencement of the spring, and during the
summer months in the southern plains, towards Lithuania
and Poland, Adamowicz of Wilna gives the following rela-
tion : 'In 1838 there raged throughout the spring and
summer, and in a lesser degree throughout the winter also,
the "mouth-and-foot disease" in Lithuania, Volhynia, and

324 History of Animal Plagues.

Little Russia : the mouth disease principally among the cattle,
and the foot disease amongst nearly all the domestic animals.
At the same time I frequently remarked aphthse {aphthen) in
the human species. Although there were cases of splenic
apoplexy {milzbrand) among the cattle at that time, no
cancer of the tongue (^?/;/^^;//&r^^j— glossanthrax) was
observed. I have never yet seen it.'i

POMERANIA.— For Pomerania, M. Erdt has communicated
a very detailed and circumstantial history of the epizooty,
from which we will make the following extracts : * In
Pomerania, and principally along the coast of the Baltic,
until the year 1838 the foot-and-mouth disease {inatil tind
klauenseitche) had been almost unknown ; the oldest inhabi-
tant could not remember the visitation of any like disorder.
Hence the plague {sejiche) created a greater sensation, and
awakened the attention of everyone here more than it did
elsewhere. ... In general this disease recurs frequently; it
seems usually a consequence of a long, dry, hot summer. It
generally confines itself to single provinces, even to districts,
and sometimes even to isolated places. So far as I am aware,
during the long hot summer of 1834, it spread itself through-
out the greater portion of the governmental department of
Bromberg, without attacking in a similar degree the other
departments of the country ; in the district of Coslin it
appeared upon one estate only, and spread no farther.^ . . .
After the summer and autumn of 1837, when the long winter
that followed, and which lasted up to the month of May, 1838,
had made our domestic animals susceptible to the " mouth-
and-foot " disease, the trade in pigs began with unusual activity
in April and May. In all neighbourhoods and on all roads,
one met droves of pigs. They were partly bought-up in this de-
partment in the vicinity of Lauenburg and Britow, and left the
locality at the beginning and middle of May. Somewhat
later, pigs arrived which had been purchased in the bordering
districts of West Prussia, and which were driven through.^ ^

^ Adamowicz. Magazin fiir Thierheilkunde, vol. vi. p. 477.

^ This is an error, for, according to Ileusinger, the malady spread from Podolia
into France in 1834.

^ Erdt. Uber die Klauenseuche im Jahr 1838. Magazin fiir Thierheilkunde,
vol. ix. p. 420.

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 325

This veterinarian was decidedly of opinion, as were others,
that the disease was carried about by the droves of infected
animals and their drivers. His remarks are very valuable,
and the resemblances or analogies he noted between many of
the symptoms and those of Cattle Plague are striking. Men
and children suffered from a similar disease by using milk
from diseased cattle. The account is too long for transcrip-
tion.

Brandenburg. — In the Mark of Brandenburg the malady
probably arrived later than in Pomerania, It was observed
at Berlin in June,i and excited much attention for some time.
The talented veterinary professor, Hertwig, of Berlin, reports
the results of attempts at inoculation for this aphthous disease
in cattle and sheep, and his remarks are worthy of notice : ' Herr
Schwepj veterinary surgeon in the district of Tennstadt, in his
quarterly report for 1 841, communicates some experiments on
the inoculation of sheep for this disease, which I here copy,
because they have been made on a larger number of animals
than any others of the kind which have yet come to my
knowledge. Herr Schwep says : " From the prevalence of
this disease in 1838, 1, with many others, was led to believe that
it arose not only from miasmatic influence, but likewise from
infection. In order to ascertain whether I was right in my
suspicion, and also whether it was possible to transfer it to
some other part of the body, where it might be less injurious
to the animal, I made the following experiments. The first
was on a flock of nine hundred sheep, one hundred and sixty
of which were already lame. I had those selected in which
the horn had not quite come off from the foot, but where it
was so loose that a slight pressure of the finger would be
enough to separate it. With the matter found in the hoof I
inoculated five hundred animals on that side of the ear which
is most free from wool. In the course of twenty-four hours
considerable fever had arisen ; in forty-eight hours the inocu-
lated places exhibited symptoms of intense inflammation, and
in .seventy-two hours I found in many of them small blisters
full of serum. On the sixth day I examined them all

' Magazin fiir d. Gesammte Thierheilkunde, vol. vi. p. 140.

326 History of Animal Plagues.

separately and found that nearly every vesicle had burst, and
that purulent matter, of an unpleasant smell, was escaping
from them During the first ten days after the inoculation,
sixty of them became lame, although in each the vesicle, or
pock, had risen on the spot inoculated. That lameness, how-
ever, was not very great, and in general lasted only about
two days All the other inoculated animals remained free
from the disease, though in some not inoculated it raged as
much as before. I can only explain the circumstance of sixty
becoming lame after the inoculation, on the supposition that
they must previously have been infected. Other experiments
have been attended with similar results. I have not yet had
sufhcient opportunity of experimenting on cattle to be able
to give any decisive opinion, but I should say that inoculation
would protect them also."

' The contagiousness of this hoof-disease {klauaisenche) in
our domesticated animals, as well as its origin from epizootic
miasmata, has been maintained and denied. Carefully in-
stituted experiments, in places and times where the disease
IS most prevalent, can alone decide this point. In all the
experiments hitherto made respecting inoculation, these con-
ditions have not been attended to with sufficient exactness to
render the result such as may be confidently relied on. For
my own part, I have been led to the conviction that this
disease is propagated by inoculation, by the vapour arising
from the skin, by the breath, or by the use of the milk, and
may thus be communicated to other animals, and even to
men. Whether, however, any amelioration of the disease
could be produced by inoculation, as is the case in sheep
small-pox, is a question which further experiments alone can
solve. That inoculation could produce exemption from taking
the disease again in its worst form is, in my opinion, proble-
matical. Inoculation experiments, partly undertaken with
this view, and partly for the purpose of inquiring into the
contagiousness of the disease, have already been made by
many persons, and, among others, by Buniva.^

^Calendario della Soc. Agraria, i8i2. Annales de I'Agriculture Fran9aise,
vol. xlix. p. 360.

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 327

' Oxen and calves were inoculated with this disease, and the
following was the result : In some, simple fever arose without
any other disease; while in many, an eruption appeared
about the mouth and feet. The former were ill only six days,
while the latter suffered for twenty days, and more sometimes.
In both the disease could be again induced by inoculation.

'In 181 5, Herr Brauell, court veterinary surgeon at Weimar,
produced this disease in cattle and sheep by inoculation on the
ear. In 1816, Professor Renner inoculated for this disease in
Jena and its neighbourhood.^ Subsequently, Wirth inoculated
at Zurich,^ as did my colleague, Dr. Spinola, of Berlin, and
both with similar results. Rodiger, in his worV devotes a
whole chapter to inoculation ; and Dr. Bartels, of Helmstadt,
has given some very luminous descriptions of inoculations.*
According to him, it protects the animal not only from a
return of the disease, but also serves as a precautionary
measure in cases of infection.

' A general and normal eruption is thus produced ; and the
equal and quick course of the disease when resulting from
inoculation, renders it easy and not expensive to bestow that
care and attention on every animal which is necessary and
beneficial. The farmer is thus enabled to avoid those diseases-
of the hoof, often so fatal, and the animals do not lose so
much in flesh, milk, and growth. Draught cattle are also
much sooner fit for work.

' Dr. Bartels made use of matter for inoculation taken from
animals in which the pustules had become fully and generally
developed. He also took it from the mouth about the third
or fourth day after the commencement of discharge. He
likewise endeavoured, as much as possible, to inoculate
animals with the matter taken from one of a similar species,
and even breed, and not from any others, if he could avoid
it. He inoculated in the following ways : A cow or sheep
was fed, and if it had done eating, its mouth was cleaned with

1 Dr. F. G. Hoffman. Diss. Inaug. de Incitione. Febr. BuUos EpizooticEC.
Jena, 1816.

2 Archiv fur Thierheilkunde, Neu Folge, vol. i.

3 Erfahrung iiber die bosartige Klauenseuchc. Chemnitz, 1822.
^Oekonom. Neuigkeiten, 1842.

328 H istory of Animal Plagues.

a woollen cloth, and some of the sahva taken by the finger
from^ the mouth of a diseased animal was well rubbed into
he hps and tongue. The inoculated beast had not anything
to eat for at least an hour afterwards. The subsequent treat-
ment was the same as in other cases 'i

MAGDEBURG.-For the province of Magdeburg Veterinary
Surgeon Hildebrandt has collected a larfe ..^Z^ol
observations on the epizooty. From these we learn that it

^Tt ^" ^^^^^"^ ^^38. and was seen
in the cattle-sheds of the village of Warkau in May In the
begmning of June it attacked the herds and flocks on the
Elbe affecting more particularly cattle, sheep, goats, swine
and here and there a horse. It was general throughout the
province in a short time after it appeared.^ This author
mentions several instances in which the disease was trans-
^ffccttr ^""^ ^° 'P^''^^ that primarily

The epizooty spread into Hanover, Westphalia, Mecklen-
burg, and Holland, and extended always from east to west=^

MECKLENBURG.-In Mecklenburg it first appeared in 1838
and reappeared in 1839. Gilmeister, veterinary surgeon to
Pnnce Thurn and Taxis, at Regenburg. in Bavaria, gives a
good description of it in this part of Germany. He says • ' In
1834 the disease prevailed in Hungary and Lower Austria
and spread rapidly to Bohemia, Saxony, and a great part of
Prussia. In a few years after this it made its appearance in
Mecklenburg. It entered the country at two points-viz on
the south and the west— and it followed a direction to 'the
north and the east ; and thus in a few months had not only
invaded the whole country, but had spread to Western Ger-
many, Holland, and France. I had at that time an extensive
practice in Mecklenburg, and was therefore enabled to observe
and study it in its different stages. The invasion and spreading

^Hertwig. Magazin fur d. Gesanimte Thierheilkunde, 1842, p 389
'Hildcbrandt. Uber die Maul und Klauenseuchc. Magazin fur d. Gesammte
Tnierhe.lkunde, vol. vi. p. 145. See also for a history of the epizooty in this
province : Andrw. Uber die Gutartige Maul und Klauenseuche. Magdeburg,
I839. He7ike. Zeitschrift fur Staatsarzneikunde, vol. xxxix. p. i.
Heusinger. Op. cit. vol. ii. p. 500.

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 329

of these epizootics depend, I am inclined to think, on two
causes — namely, miasma and contagion. In support of which
opinion I would adduce, first, the apparently spontaneous
and contemporaneous appearance of the disease in different
and far-distant localities, between which there had not been
any communication ; and secondly, the uncommon rapidity
with which it spread either in the same or in different herds
that were dispersed over a large tract of country. No sooner
had the disease shown itself in a herd of perhaps a hundred
beasts, than in thirty-six or forty-eight hours the whole were
infected ; or, perchance, two or three might escape. As to the
contagious nature of the disease, there will be very little doubt
if we consider how readily it may be communicated by actual
contact ; as, for example, by taking a wisp of hay and wiping
off with it the flowing saliva from a suffering animal, and bring-
ing it in contact with the muzzle of, or allowing it to be eaten
by, a healthy beast. This was always speedily followed by a
disease bearing the greatest analogy in its symptoms and
course to the one under which the first animal was labouring.
The process of inoculating was frequently resorted to by the
farmers, in order to have a more general outbreak of the in-
fection, when once it had made its appearance amongst their
cattle, and to produce it in a milder form, or, if possible, to
get rid of it sooner. The mode of inoculating the disease was
by transferring the matter on the point of a lancet or other sharp
instrument ; and thus the malady was communicated, not only
to individuals of the same species, but also to animals of various
classes, and even to the human being. Thus communicated
to cats and dogs, it would often terminate fatally. I will not
now enter into the consideration of those cases of apparent
contagion— there can be no doubt about them ; but in many
mstances may not the miasma have preceded, and the infec-
tion be in appearance only ? There have also been instances
where one herd has escaped the infection, though surrounded
on all sides ; but when this happened, it was generally in
farms that were situated on the driest and most elevated parts
of the country, and where the owners had taken the necessary
measures against contagion. At other times, no local differ-

330 Histoiy of Animal Plagues.

ence or food, constitution, age, or sex, seemed in the least to
modify the disease. The constitution of the atmosphere-viz
a warm sprmg and summer-seemed to have a pecuhar influ-
ence on it.

' It is difficult to notice the first symptoms of the epizooty.
They are said oftenest to be those of mild catarrhal fever ;
rheumatic fever ; an affection of the mouth ; swelling or sores
m the^ feet, or a complication of these symptoms ; or pure
asthenic or inflammatory fever. I have never observed the
acute inflammatory fever ; but that which I have seen was
decidedly of the asthenic character, and at the same time of
the typhoid form. Complication of inflammation of the
stomach is of rare occurrence. I will now endeavour to de-
scribe the symptoms of the afl-ection of the mouth in the ox.
I mentioned a difficulty in the perception of the early symp-
toms. This consists in the casual fever, which in general is
so slight, and passes off so quickly, that we are not aware that
the animal is ill until the local afl-ection makes its appearance,
and the disease has almost come to its crisis. In the majority
of cases the veterinary surgeon is not sent for until the fever
has run its course, and therefore no opportunity is aff-orded him
of seemg its invasion. In the course of my practice, when the
disease had made some progress, and my services were called
for at some farm or another, it has often happened that some
beast, apparently in good health, has begun to dribble from
the mouth, and on examination it was found that blisters had
made their appearance. The fever in these cases had passed
off unnoticed. This led me to watch the others more closely,
and enabled me to detect the fever in many individuals in whom
the general health hardly seemed to be disturbed up to the
time that the exanthema made its appearance. Mastication^
and swallowing then becomes difficult and painful ; the pulsej
seldom rises above 70 in the minute, and is weak and soft ; the!
pulsation of the heart is scarcely perceptible ; the mucous
membranes are slightly reddened ; the secretions and excre-j
tions are lessened; sometimes constipation prevails; the;
mouth is less moist, but not dry, and it is also hot. There is!
a general debility of the muscular system. In from two to

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 331

five days the vesicles make their appearance on the reddened
tongue and gums ; they generally are of the size of a pea or
small bean, and they are filled with clear fluid lymph. At
this stage of the disease there is either loss of appetite, or the
animal is unable to feed. In some cases, if not generally,
there is great difficulty in swallowing ; for I have often seen
the animal turning the food, after mastication, from side to
side in its mouth, trying in vain to get it down, and at last
letting it drop. This may depend on the swelling of the
tongue, together with the local pain. I need not say that this
stage of the disease is considered as the commencement, in-
stead of the crisis, by the non-professional practitioner or
empiric. The vesicles seldom rupture spontaneously ; this
is done by mechanical pressure in the endeavours the animal
makes either to masticate or to swallow its food. The
dead epidermis peels off, leaving the parts covered by red
spots, and showing the intense inflammation that had been
going on. In a few days — from three to six — cicatrization
takes place, the appetite returns, and the disease disappears,
without, in those mild cases, professional assistance being re-
quired. Sometimes there is inflammation of the parenchyma
of the tongue — glossitis. In these cases the swelling is so
great that the tongue becomes too large for the poor sufferer's
mouth to contain it. Scarification is here the best means of
affording relief Instead of the inside of the mouth, the local
affection is sometimes on the outside of it ; but the hardness
of the skin prevents the full formation of the vesicles. Des-
quamation follows, and cicatrization is much slower.

' Differences. — In sheep the vesicles generally appear on the
upper or toothless maxilla. These animals do not suffer so
much as the ox, when the disease is confined to the mouth
only. In swine the seat of the local affection is the proboscis,
and the vesicles are of a blueish colour. These animals suffer
more than the former. The invasion is also more marked,
and is distinguished by dulness, an anxious countenance,
difficulty of breathing, refusal of all food, and vomiting. I
have not observed the disease in the horse. The disease of the
feet makes its appearance in a similar way to that of the

332 H istory of A n imal Plagjies.

mouth The slight difference of fever is hardly appreciated
and of very little consequence. The seat of the local affection
IS the fibrous tissue of the last phalanx of the foot. The
animal appears to experience much difficulty in walking •
hence perhaps the idea that the fever was rheumatic in its
character. I should add that it is still more difficult to dis-
tinguish the general symptoms than in the mouth affection
The difficulty in locomotion, the pain which the animal mani-
fests in putting its feet to the ground, and the sudden snatch-
ing of them up when on the ground, announce the presence of
the local disease. I generally found the interdigital space to
be the first to show the vesicles. The skin appeared a little
red when the coat of the animal was not of a dark colour •
there was increased heat, and great swelling, followed by the
appearance of vesicles. Frequently the disease extended to
the heels and coronets. If more than one foot was affected
there was very little chance of the vesicles being seen, for the
pressure of the feet on the ground generally destroyed them
before there was time for any satisfactory examination. In
sheep the disease assumes the same form as in cattle, only it
is not so acute, and the vesicles are more visible, in conse-
quence of the mechanical pressure being less. I have not had
any cases of the disease in the feet of swine. From what has
been stated, it is evident that the epizooty of the mouth and
that of the feet are the same disease. Both begin with a
slight fever, the crisis of which is the production of the
vesicles ; and it seems to be mere chance whether their seat
is the mouth or the feet, or perhaps depending on some
peculiar diathesis or predisposition— as the constitution of the
animal, the manner in which it is fed, whether stabled or at
grass, the locality, and, lastly, the constitution of the atmo-
sphere. All these have undoubtedly a greater or less influence
on it. . . . It is possible that the fever, on the first appearance
of the disease, is one sui generis, similar to that in small-pox ;
and it cannot be denied that there is a great resemblance
between the two. To prove the identity between the epizooty
of the mouth and that of the feet, I will add that I have not
found them attack the animal at the same time ; but they

Period froin A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 333

generally follow each other at short intervalsj so that few
herds remained free from the one when the other had once
appeared. It now remains to consider a few deviations from
what has been considered the mild or benign form. The
epizooty, when the local seat has been in the feet, may pro-
gress and change into a disease sui generis. This does not
occur when the local seat has been the mouth. But it is
necessary to draw a distinction between this and a similar
disease in sheep (^foot-rot), which is a chronic, local, and highly
contagious affection existing without fever, and which has
only been known in Germany since the introduction of
Merino sheep from Spain. . . . The malignant form of the
disease in the feet of the ox and sheep showed itself in the
month of June, 1839, and lasted until August of the same
year. The mercury stood high in the thermometer, and many
of the herds were still suffering from the disease of the mouth,
while others had but just recovered. Many died of inflamma-
tion of the viscera. The farmers thought their cattle had
recovered from the epizooty, when suddenly some fell lame
and remained behind, and, in cases where more than one foot
was affected, were unable to walk, from the increased pain.
There was also loss of appetite ; the foot was swollen from
the pastern downwards ; the toes were wide apart ; the con-
nection with the inner wall of the foot appeared to be raised
considerably, and there oozed from it a thick, whitish pus,
which had a very offensive smell. The probe touched on
every side a hard substance, and, on making an incision, it
was very easy to remove a substance or core of the size of a
hazel-nut, or sometimes as big as an egg. This substance was
of a porous structure on the outside, and of a fibrous nature
internally. It appeared to be an altered state of the vascular
covering of the parts, as well as the surrounding cellular tissue,
, . . In the worst cases the bones of the foot were not unfre-
quently attacked, the tendons and ligaments destroyed, and the
foot in the highest state of sphacelus : this condition speedily
terminated in the death of the animal. ... In many cases
that appeared mild at first, and were too often neglected, the
animal would be observed dragging the loathsome and swollen

334

History of Animal Plagues.

leg after him ; while at the coronets might be seen openings
which led to deep-seated abscesses, out of which the matter
was flowing at every painful step the animal was forced to
take. On probing the part, nothing but the bones of the foot
arrested the probe, the capsular ligament of one or both arti-
culations being completely destroyed ; and not unfrequently
exfoliation of the bone had taken place. . . . The average loss
from the attack of this disease was about sixteen per cent.
The deaths from inflammation of the viscera, above alluded
to, and after the epizooty had subsided, were from ten to
eighteen per cent. Five herds came under my notice. Death
in many cases was so sudden that the veterinary surgeon was
often too late. Of sixteen cases I had at one time, only two
recovered. I considered this to be in many cases a typhoid
inflammation of the heart.' ^

Hungary and Galicia.— In all probability, the disease
prevailed in Hungary and Galicia about the same time.

Styria. — In the spring of 1838, and in 1839, it was general
in Styria, not only among the domestic animals, but also
among wild creatures in the forests.^

Bohemia. — In Bohemia it ought to have reigned about
June, as in July it had become generally spread from that
country into the kingdom of Saxony, where the various
circles issued proclamations in that month, in consequence of
the epizooty having been introduced across the Bohemian
frontiers.^

Prussian Saxony. — In Prussian Saxony it may have
commenced towards the end of June. A writer at Merseburg
reports, that at that time cattle, sheep, and swine were
affected with the so-called ' epizootic mouth disease,' and that
the feet often suffered through metastasis. Feathered
creatures — hens, ducks, geese, and pigeons — were attacked,
but great loss was not sustained. Horses were also affected,
but there was some doubt as to its being really ekzema,
because of some differences in the symptoms observed.'*

^Abstract of Proceedings of the Veterinary Medical Association, p. 340.

* Kretner. Mittheilungen CEsterrich. Veterinaire, vol. i. p. 45.
^ Pohl. Archiv d. d. Landwirtsch. 1838, p. 191.

* Kreig. Casper. Wochenschrift fiir die Gesanimte Thierheilkunde, 1839, p. 561.

Period from A.D. 1836 fo A.D. 1840. 335

At Erfurt the malady continued during 1838, and the
whole of 1839.^

Thuringia. — In Thuringia generally, it broke out in
July, and was propagated thence, by Eisenach, in Hesse, in
August. In Thuringia, sheep and cattle suffered most ; but
wild animals were not exempted, and Krugelstein states that
the disease was readily transmitted to different kinds of
creatures and people. Children and dogs received the infec-
tion by drinking milk obtained from diseased cows.^

Bavaria. — In Bavaria, the epizooty was general on the
north-west frontiers in July ; but . in all likelihood it had
shown itself before that period towards the south-east. In
1 84 1, it was still widely spread in that country, and oxen,
cows, sheep, and swine suffered.^

WURTEMBERG.— The middle of the kingdom of Wurtem-
berg was infected in August ; so that it may be presumed
the malady had existed in other parts of the kingdom before
that time. In Neuenstadt it was reported that a man who
had used cream derived from the milk of a diseased cow in his
coffee, had a scorbutic eruption in his mouth. The game-
keeper complained that wild animals were affected.*

FULDA.— In the province of Fulda, Electoral Hesse, the
epizooty appeared on the 17th of August, 1838, and cows,
sheep, and pigs were attacked.^ Schneider reports that in
this province a disease broke out among goats and cats, in
addition to the before-mentioned animals, and lasted during
the five months (August to December) that the malady was
most severe. This epizooty in the goats and cats occurred in
the villages and cattle-sheds these creatures frequented, and
where the ekzema prevailed. The swine got the infection
from feeding on the diseased cows' milk, and it was con-
jectured that the cats received it in the same way. Several
people noticed that the deer had their feet affected. Instances
were quoted of human beings becoming ill through using the

1 Dominik. Magazin fiir die Gesammte Thierheilkunde, vol. x. p. 3.
^Henke. Zeitschrift fur die Staatsarzncikunde, vol. xxxvii. p. 239.
' Archiv Schweizer Thierarzte, vol. xi. p. 259.

^ager. Correspondenzbl. d. Wurtcmburg. Landw. Vereins, vol xv n 2=;2
" Sc/iwarz. Henke. Op. cit. p. 459.

336

History of Am?7ial Plagues.

milk and butter derived from sick cattle, and suffering much
from fever and the irritation of the eruption. Geese had the
same complaint, and dogs also became diseased after partak-
ing of the milk.^

Upper Hesse.— In the Grand Duchy of Upper Hesse, the
epizooty was announced on the 4th of September; it came from
Fulda.2

In the province of Upper Hesse (Electoral Hesse) it first
manifested itself on September loth, 1838, when it affected
the cattle on the frontiers, and gradually spread over the
whole province. Cattle, sheep, swine, poultry and geese were
the principal victims.^ Heusinger says : ' The disease was
generally concealed by cattle owners. I have often observed
it at Marburg and in the surrounding districts in 1839, 1840,
and 1842; it even affected poultry at Burgel and Marburg.
The outbreak in September, 1842, was particularly remarkable.
After great heat and drought in July and August, the
atmospherical electricity became considerably augmented,
and from the 25th to the 28th great storms took place and
showers of rain soaked the dried and burnt-up soil ; this
condition of the atmosphere was the same throughout nearly
the whole of Germany. Immediately after these rains,
many localities^ and particularly the ramp leading from
Marburg to Wehrda, were covered with such a quantity of
edible mushrooms {agariais cainpestris), that one might have
filled great baskets in places where only a few dozens could
have been gathered in previous years. At the same time,
and all at once, the aphthongular disease broke out among
cows and sheep, and in one large poultry-yard at least in my
neighbourhood it attacked the fowls. Suddenly, and coinci-
dently, many children from two to six years old were affected
with aphthous disease of the mouth ; several little girls had
the vesicles even on the vulva, and a large number of infants
had aphthous inflammation of the mouth {Stomatitis aphtha
infantum), many of them being dangerously ill, and two died

1 Schneider. Erfahiungen uber die Maul und Klauenseuche. Freiburg, 1S40. I
^Rilzeu. Medicinalwesen des Grossherzogthums Hesscn, vol. ii. p. 415. |
^ Hetisinger. Op. cit. p. 509. j

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 337

from ramoliissement of the stomach. It is certain that these
latter received milk from diseased cows.'^

District Veterinary Surgeon Struve, of Ziegenhain, on the
borders of Fulda and the Grand Duchy of Hesse, reports, on
September 20th, that the foot-and-mouth disease broke out
in Gehan and Breitenbach, in consequence of foreign cattle
having been driven through the country. On October 29th,
the same occurrence is again reported, and it had become so
general everywhere that but few escaped.2

Switzerland. — The Swiss veterinary surgeons have not
very accurately noted the progress of the disease in the
various cantons ; though they published some good treatises
on it. At what date it arrived in their country is not clearly
stated, but it appeared to have been at a somewhat early
period ; for in the month of September, 1838, it was very
prevalent in Geneva. Here M. Favre, in a notice dated the
17th of September, says : ' The disease of stock, which has
been generally designated under the title of epizootic aphtha,
showed itself since the springtime in many communes of the
Vaudois frontier, whence it has reached the Jura. It has
actually manifested itself in some localities in the Canton of

^^"^v^ The disease is eminently contagious. Very

few days elapse between the period of infection and that in
which the symptoms appear. The infecting agent is ener-
getic and subtle ; for in numbers of sheds all the individuals
are affected, with few exceptions, in three or four days. It
attacks the bovine species without distinction of age or sex.
It also attacks pigs ; I have even noticed this year that in
two localities it began with them. The contagion takes place
by mediate or immediate contact— that is to say, an animal
contracts the disease either by coming into direct communi-
cation with the diseased, or by dwelling in the same places,
passing through them, by touching the objects infected by
their litter, saliva, etc. The infection takes place particularly
by the feet and the mouth. The late M. Clerc, an able
veterinarian in the Canton Vaud, told me that he had inocu-
lated this disease by means of incisions made in the skin,

^Hcmi^scr. Op. cit. p. 510. . IM. Loc. cit.

22

33^ History of Animal Plagties.

without choice of situation, and always with success. It is
not very well demonstrated as to whether the infection takes
place by aeriform emanations — by the air impregnated with
the vapour which escapes from the bodies of the diseased ; if
this means of pi-opagation exists, it is at least certain that it
. operates but at a short distance. The mode of extension in
a manner purely epizootic — that is to say, by unknown means
which are in action over a greater or less extent of country —
appears to be demonstrated by an extension much more
rapid than the progressive mode assumed by a contagium.
It would- be puerile to attribute it to the temperature, the
water, the forage^ the exposure, the locality, etc., for it has
reigned without distinction on the mountains, the plains, and
the valleys, and during all seasons. Nevertheless, the epizootic
character has disappeared this year in this country, or, at any
rate, it has become much modified, for the disease has been
circumscribed and limited in the stables where a rigorous
sequestration, opportunely adopted, has been enforced.'^

In the Canton Vaud, M. Levrat describes the epizooty.
' What is named the aphthous epizootic, and which has pre-
vailed at various periods in Switzerland, manifested itself in
1838, over nearly the whole of Europe, and it exists again in
the Canton Vaud, and in many other Cantons of Switzerland.
.... The causes of this disease may be grouped in two
orders ; the ones, presumable, tending to develop it, to cause
its origin ; the others, better appreciable, develop and propa-
gate it. Among the causes in the first category, I place those
atmospherical influences which, up to the present time, have
not been appreciable, and also those better known, as sudden
or violent variations of temperature, and particularly a damp
cold. These diverse causes may act over a wide expanse of
country on cloven-footed animals, and in them produce the
epizooty, which again, when once developed, acquires a con-
tagious character and propagates itself by contagion. If
this disease may be developed epizootically, as appears
probable, experience also teaches us that it is contagious. It

^ Favre. Instruction Relative \ I'Epizobtie qui vient se Manifester. Geneva^
1838. Also in Recueil de Med. Veter. vol. xv. p. 653.

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 339

may be propagated in a manner mediate or immediate : by
the emanations from the bodies of diseased animals which are
affected with it ; by the saliva that flows from the mouth ;
and by the humour from the vesicles in whatever part of the
body they may show themselves. The contagium of this
disease may be transmitted : mediately, by the people who
look after the affected animals, and who have communication
with those in health; immediately, by the pigs, the sheep,
and the goats which are themselves attacked ; and by the air
to short distances. Well-attested facts do not leave any
doubts in this respect. It was the pigs which communi-
cated the malady to the cows on the mountains in the
Canton Vaud. It was the pigs, the sheep, and the goats
purchased in contaminated localities, which, having been
transported to four, five, or six leagues distance, and put into
healthy cow-houses, or passed into communes where the
disease had not yet appeared, have become sick at once, or a
few days after their arrival, and the cows in the stables in
which these have been placed, although kept apart, have not
been long before they, too, suffered from the same disease,
which could scarcely be transmitted for more than a very
short distance by the air ; lastly, the majority of the cattle of
the communes where the introduction of the diseased has
occurred have yielded to the contagious influence of this
malady. The bulls from infected farms have communicated
it to the cows which they have visited, or which were brought

to them from great distances In many countries the

question has been discussed as to whether the milk furnished
by diseased cows may be used with safety for the nourish-
ment of mankind, and the German journals have announced
that there is danger. The experiments which have been
made in this regard by a crowd of people, and, above all, the
experience which had been acquired every day while the
malady lasted, in the neighbourhood of Lausanne, and
amongst the population of that city, prove in an irrecusable
manner that while the milk preserves its physical characters,
and so long as it may boil without clotting, it is not hurtful
to health. But it may be observed that in this disease, if the

340 History of Animal Plagues.

teat be injured to that extent that it alters the secretion of
milk. It IS easy to conceive that in this case, as happens also
in some lesions of the teats which are not the effect of this
disease, the milk then drawn is improper for nourishment ' ^

.1. T. T.''""' u • ^"^'^"^"t treatise, dated

the 1 8th December, 1838. He describes the symptoms of the
disease very accurately, and speaks of its extreme contagious-
ness. Dogs, cats, and poultry largely extended the contami-
nation when they frequented the stables or other places where
diseased and healthy cows were kept. It was also surmised
that the epizooty was spread by the rats which wandered
Irom the stables of the diseased to the healthy.^

In 1839, it was observed that at Berne and other parts of
Switzerland the malady was panzootic, the human species being
involved to some extent.^ In the autumn of 1839 the affection
appears to have been very severe and general,* In 184 1 it was
again introduced into Switzerland, and in the Canton of Zurich
cattle, sheep, and goats were attacked.^ Its highly contagious
character was well understood by the Swiss veterinarians

France.— We have traced the malady thus far in its pro-
gress westward during the course of the year 1838, and now
we are come to France, where it might be expected to reign
in the autumn. Much confusion, however, in describing the
progress of the epizooty would be caused to those not particu-
larly acquainted with comparative pathology, did they receive
the report of M. Duverdier, a physician of Marsillac, as a cor- (
rect one. This gentleman assures us that an aphthous disease
already prevailed in March and April, 1838, in the depart-
ment of Cantal, Auvergne, and he describes this affection •
which description, together with what he says in his introduc-
tion, leaves no doubt that he could not distinguish between
the aphthous foot disease of Sagar and an epizooty of gloss-
anthrax. There can be no doubt that the malady he noticed
was only a benignant form of glossanthrax, a disease enzootic
in Auvergne. In this respect his description is valuable, as

'^Levrat. Recueil de Med. V^ter. vol. xvi. p. 409.

^ Anker. Anleitung zur Erkenntniss u. s. w. der Maul und Klauenseuclie.
Bern, 1839. 3 Archiv Schweizer Thierarzte, vol. ix. p. 389.

P- 2°3- « Ibid. vol. xi. p. 229.

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 341

affording a contrast between the two affections. He writes :
' Its invasion is always difficult, if not impossible, to recognise.
The animals which are under the influence of the malady
are without fever, and externally they offer no particularly
morbid signs ; they eat and drink as usual, appear lively
and in good condition, and bellow and bound about when
they go to water ; rumination is scarcely affected ; the coat is
neither harsh nor staring ; the eyes are neither dull nor watery;
the ears are not low or pendulous ; the skin is generally soft
and elastic, though sometimes it appears dry and crepitant.
There is nothing to assure us of the existence of the malady
save an examination of the tongue, on or under which we have
found sometimes one, at other times many, ulcers or aphthae,
which at the centre looked lardaceous, around their margins
callous, and in form and figure more or less irregular ; this
was the most benignant form of the malady. Those aphtha
or ulcers which have not been attended to at first, through
neglect or ignorance, have given rise to the formation of
transverse, deep, and oftentimes fistulous ulcers, which in a
few days have eaten into and caused the loss of a piece of the
tongue. In many subjects a brownish tumour, more or less
salient, forms under the tongue near the fraenum {filet); false
membranes, thick and callous, form a swelling of an irregular
shape, which covers a foul black ulcer more or less deep. At
the summit of this tumour there are perceived one or two holes,
which we may believe to be fistulous, because they are de-
pressed in the middle, like those usually met with in furoncle.
This tumour, which constitutes the glossanthrax, demands
prompt attention. When it is neglected it gives rise to eroding
ulcers more or less deep, which, independently of the ravages
they induce on the tongue, cause disorder of the nervous
system. Fever is only manifested when the ulcers have made
some progress ; the animal then becomes dull, prostrated, un-
steady ; rumination ceases ; all kinds of food are refused ; the
secretion of milk becomes scanty; and if we do not hasten to
arrest the progress of the disease, gangrene gradually extends
to the larynx and pharynx, convulsions set in, and death
ensues. M. Fillais, who has attended to a great number of

342 History of Animal Plagues.

diseased animals, and who, in his capacity as veterinary surgeon
to the district, was able to observe the epizooty at several
points, informs us that he has seen in many patients a con-
siderable swelling of the tongue, which rendered it hard, tense
rigid, and so voluminous that an animal's mouth could not
contain it. Deep scarifications, long and repeated, have caused
copious haemorrhage, and have generally sufficed to stay the
progress of the malady. M. Fillais has also observed in the
same subjects an oedematous state of the lower jaw, extending
from the symphysis to the middle of the submaxillary space.
This veterinary surgeon has likewise noticed that since the
weather changed— that is, since the cold set in-the malady
has diminished in intensity and become more rare. He has
noted that it was more intense in the communes of Labrousse,
Roussy, Lessi6res, Leucamp, and Ladinhac, than in those of
Arpajon and Saint- Simon ; and he attributes this to the dif-
ference in climate and forage. In general there have been
but few deaths; the disease, when timeously treated, has yielded
to the most simple means, to the most ordinary treatment.
Nevertheless, the malady has become all at once so general,
that fear hangs over the country, the authorities are pressed to
send veterinary surgeons to the points where the contagion is
most virulent; but if the malady is combated in time— because
everyone can avert it— there ought to be no alarm. The
causes of the reigning epizooty are, in general, little known to
us ; we may, nevertheless, attribute them to the miasmata and
putrid emanations which are the result of the crowding to-
gether of animals in small dirty and badly ventilated stables,
to the want of exercise; to the apathetic nature of the animals ;
and beyond all, to the humid and catarrhal atmospheric con-
stitution which has reigned during the whole of the winter.'^
Alsace. — For this part of France, then forming the depart-
ments of the Upper and Lower Rhine, M. Joulin, in a manu-
script memoir transmitted to the Royal and Central Society of
Agriculture, states that the epizooty appeared in the months
of August and September, 1838.^

^ Duverdier. Recueil de Med. Veter. vol. xv. p. 392.
"Annales d'Hygiene Publique, vol. xxii. p. 279.

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 343

Lorraine.— In the month of October, 1838, M. Matthieu,
veterinary surgeon at Epinal, furnished a circular containing
instructions as to the best method of treating the malady.
This circular was inserted in the reciieil oi administrative acts
of the department of the Vosges ;i it also appeared in a
veterinary periodical. It contains the following statement :
* The aphthous fever, named also aphthous stomatitis, has for
some weeks past been attacking horned cattle and the smaller
stock of the department. . . . Affecting nearly all the beasts
in the localities where it breaks out, it occupies, it may be
said, every hand, and its appearance has put the farmers on
their mettle. Its causes remain until now ignored, as do those
of the majority of the epidemics and epizootics. It was
believed, however, that these causes were the immoderate
use of potatoes, the bread or cakes of beechmast, too new, non-
fermented forage ; but our observations are far from confirm-
ing this. The malady reigned in all seasons, therefore the
influence of temperature cannot be invoked ; it is the same
with stables and regime. With regard to contagion, this is
also, doubtful. ... In the majority of communes the in-
fluences under which aphthous fever is declared amongst
horned cattle are of such a nature that they have extended
their operations to other species of domestic animals. Thus it
is that the smaller cloven-footed animals, as the sheep, goat, and
hog, have been attacked. This result has even raised the cry
of contagion. It has been also advanced that the people who
have drunk the milk of diseased cows have experienced colic,
and afforded other proofs of indisposition. If disgust alone has
not occasioned these accidents, to which we have never been
a witness, no more than of the appearance of this disease in
the horse and the ass, would it not be more rational to attri-
bute all these general affections to an epidemic and epizootic
constitution of the atmosphere, very evident certainly for some
months, and unfortunately so favourable to the development
of diseases of the digestive canal

^ Annales d'Hygiene Publique, vol. xxii. p. 279.

"^Matthieu. Notice sur la Fievre Aphtheuse Epizootique. Reaieil de Med.
Veterinaire, vol. xvi. p. 16.

.344 ^^'iory of Animal Plagues.

No^eXTls.V-'r' "n'" ^^^'^'"'^^ ^PP^^^ ^-^^ in

published their observations, and in March rS^n M w \
issued a reoort on ,> tk • ^^^'^^^ ^^39, M. Huzard

a most every cow-shed being visited by it Many obse e'S
be ongmg to the veterinary and medical professions were
af vely engaged in investigating its nature; and ^he X
autho„t,es, ahve to the necessity of obtaining rehab e infof
niat,pn ccncern.ng it. from an economical and sanita y no"
MeSe^'T' ^^T"'--™ bytheAcadem'n

h 8,0 bv V r f ™^ P""-*=d °" March

1 5th, , 839, by Ve ermary Surgeon Huzard, in the name of the

Com™,3s,on, The report is a long one, and contains a brief

and mcomplete h.story of former invasions of the disease, and

the symptoms, wh.ch are carefully described, appear to have

offered no unusual features ; indeed, there is nothing of any

.mportance to be noted in the account furnished by this Com^

."'^hrmifr-?;?^"''^',:^ '° '"^ °b--d

m the milk yielded by s.ck cows, and its effects on people

With some authorities it was a matter for doubt whether
the ep.zodty was or was not contagious ; though the most
competent observers decided as to its being transmissible

'839 had a startling

proof of this. The malady first appeared in some Durham
cows lodged m the sheds of the Veterinary School ; it spread
from them to all the other animals kept therein-cows bulls
and calves ; then it was carried to a contiguous dairy, and
affected all its mmates, irrespective of age, sex, or species, as
three goats wh.ch were stabled with the rams and Merino
sheep were, like these, also attacked ; lastly, the pigs, whose
st.es were s.tuated near the cow-houses, exhibited symptoms
of the disease.2 ^

The best treatise produced at this time was that written by
Veterinary Surgeon Rayer.3 His history of former outbreaks
1 Annales d'Hygi^ne Publique, vol. xxii. p. 269
- Recueil de Med. Veterinaire.

^vithT'L ^"""f "^'^ P- ^42- same memoir, enriched

Mith drawmgs and containmg more ample details, is also to be fou;,d in the

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. , 345

is more complete and correct, and the description clearer arid
more exact, than in other accounts ; the researches on the
microscopical and chemical characteristics of the milk are
particularly worthy of notice.

Normandy. — In the valley of the Auge the epizooty pre-
vailed in the summer of 1839 ; but in Bessin it did not arrive
until May, 1840. Veterinary Surgeon Levigney furnished a
very interesting account of it as it manifested itself in this part
of France : ' For the last three years the dealers in heifers and
pigs complain of losing daily on the value of the droves which
they take to Paris and elsewhere. This loss, they say, was
occasioned by a malady known by the name of cocotte, which
attacked nearly the whole of their animals, and prevented
their walking ; so that it was necessary to leave them on the
road when once they were really attacked — a circumstance
which created a serious expense ; or they were obliged to sell
them at a very low price. It was always near Pacy-sur-Eure
that the droves began to show the first symptoms of the
cocotte. At that time we were far from observing that this
disease came nearer and nearer, until it arrived in Bessin ; we
founded our opinions on the fact that the animals ahvays went
to Paris, and that they never returned towards Bessin. But we
deceived ourselves ; the epizooty travelled very slowly, it is
true, but it always advanced from the east to the west. It was
an entire year in Auge before a single case showed itself in
Bessin. The dread of the disease caused great constei-nation
amongst the farmers of this district, the wealth of which, for
the most part, consists in their herds of milch cows. The
secretion of milk ceasing or diminishing very much would
likely bring ruin on these men, who, it may be said, have
nothing to depend upon to pay their landlords but what they
realize from the sale of their butter, which they send to Paris.
But the affright was at its acme when it became known that
the malady was approaching, and that it was only a few
leagues from Bessin. The markets, as well as the cattle-fairs.

Archives de M^d. Comparee, No, 3, p. 155. Additional observations regarding the
alterations in the milk are published in the Memoires de I'Academie des Sciences,
vol. xvii, p. 20I.

346 History of Animal Plagues.

became deserted ; nobody would send their beasts to these
places feanng that they would not be able to sell them, or
that they might have communication with diseased ones or
those that had been with the infected. These precautions
were useless ; the epizooty came.

' It was in the month of May, 1840, that, for the first time
I had occasion to observe the disease in a cow belonging to
M. Enault, Isigny. His servant showed it to me on the high-
way. The six cows that were with this one were not long before
they were infected ; the bull which had been with them having
jumped the ditch that separated it from a herd of fifteen
cows belonging to M. Lebourgeons, residing at Isigny. got
amongst these, and they were all in a very few days attacked
with the malady.

' During the summer of 1840 the epizooty prevailed feebly
here and there, in the proportion of one affected to eight
healthy animals. In the autumn the cases were few; the
winter was about the same ; but in the springtime of 1841 the
outbreak of the disease was dreadful— it seemed to spare no
creature. All those which had resisted it in the preceding
year were attacked in this. It usually advanced step by step,
and when by chance it spared for the moment a farm or a
meadow where there was a herd, it was sure to appear after-
wards. At the time I now write, the only exceptions I know
of are five or six farms containing scarcely three hundred
horned cattle, out of more than twenty thousand which are in
the Cantons of Balleroy, Trevieres, and Isigny. .

• But there is nothing, absolutely nothing, to indicate that
any of the previous invasions of this disease had ever before
appeared in Bessin. The oldest people have never seen it,
nor yet have they ever heard their ancestors speak of it. It is
impossible to attribute the epizooty to the influence of the
atmosphere, to the bad quality of the forage, or even to
localities. The year 1840 had been cold and dry, the year
1 841 cold and damp, and nevertheless the disease showed
itself alike in both years, and in every place. We have seen it
reign at the same time, and with equal intensity, on the sea-
coast, on the plain, and the marsh. The rain, snow, dry

Period from A.D. 1836 io A.D. 1840. 347

ness, calms, and storms all appeared to favour its development ;
advancing sometimes regularly, it might be, in certain herds,
attributed to contagion, in others to an epizootic influence,
but most frequently without any certain proof of either.
With a farmer who possessed some five or six herds of cows,
it frequently happened that a sick herd infected another, and
that the other four herds were not attacked for six months or
even a year afterwards. During the winter, the cows which
were in the straw-yard {cour de I' habitation) being diseased,
were not allowed to go into the four cow-houses which stood
around this yard, nor into the meadows ; at other times it was
the contrary.

' In many outbreaks the epizooty began with the cows ; in
others— for example, with M. Voison, of Maisy— it first at-
tacked the pigs ; or the sheep, as happened to M. Tailpied, of
Engelsqueville. The development of the disease is often so
capricious that in some cases one is tempted to deny its con-
tagious qualities, which in others are quite evident. We could
scarcely refuse to admit the idea of its being contagious when
we saw, in the herd first affected, that the cow which infected
the others had been purchased at the fair of Balleroy, and that
before its arrival there had never been seen such a disease in
the district, nor yet for many leagues around. In four days,
all of the herd in the midst of which this cow was placed is at-
tacked. The bull goes with four other cows, and in about
six days they are all sick, notwithstanding the precautions
taken by the proprietor to isolate each cow the instant it
began to appear dull. They were removed to the farm, where
they quickly gave the disease to the pigs ; and from here two
more dairies were infected.

' M. Binet, of Saint-Clement, took a number of cows to the
fair of Trdvieres, and brought one back with him. This he
put with his other cattle, and it showed symptoms of the
malady, which it communicated to its companions ; and it is
well to notice here, that until then there had been no case
of this epizooty, either in the commune of Saint-Clement
or in the neighbourhood. I might cite many other facts
of this kind, every one of which are in favour of the

348 History of Animal Plagues.

desfous f'f -7' "^"^ ^^^'^

sho IH . ' three months in calf,

fa'ure th ^^^^ the sam^

pa ture. the sick with the healthy. The heifers ate the hay

Not L:::/,7"f ^he sahva of the infected beasts'^

Not one of them took the malady, to the great disappointment

cal ^'^^ attacked about

'It very often occurs that many herds of oxen and heifers
have passed the night in the same meadow: one herd is found

horn'ed'b f ' ^^^'''^ " ^^^O, nearly two hundred

horned beasts of every description and of every age had been
allowed to go at large in the marshes of Cambes. The disease
broke out a short time after they came together ; they all re-
mamed m this place for about four months, yet not more than
a fourth part of the number was attacked. I had at this time
three lots of cows fattening, and always took the greatest care
to keep together the last purchased, to prevent, if possible, the
malady from seizing those which were the best conditioned
A grazier came and told me that the cows which he had
bought at the last fair, where I had purchased mine, were ill
On that evening I removed one of them from the others
and the next day visited them. The four that had been pur^
chased all appeared to be affected ; the others were so at a
later period. The cow that I had separated was put in the
same meadow with eighteen others belonging to me, and re-
mained there for eight days. It was in good health until this
time, when I observed that it was dull and did not eat; it was
instantly separated from its companions, which were for a week
afterwards in good health. Then two cows were attacked, and
m eight days a new case presented itself In the course' of a
month, one, two, or three cows became sick each week ; and—
odd circumstance, but due without doubt to chance— it was
always on the Monday or Tuesday that I remarked the earliest
symptoms. When these two days were got over, I was nearly

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 349

always certain to be eight days without another new case.
The malady ceased in this herd, but then it attacked my
third, composed of twenty-three cows. Three of these were
attacked, then another from time to time ; but scarcely more
than one-half of my fifty cows were ill. May we attribute this
fact, rare, it is true, to the mixing together of individuals pur-
chased in different places, not having been bred in the same
localities, and on which the malady might not have the same
influence ? It is very difficult to admit this, when we see that
M. Dammene, my neighbour, placed in exactly the same
position as myself, out of more than sixty cows which he pos-
sesses, has only had two exempted from the epizooty.

'With the Mayor of Saint-Pierre-Dumont, the disease broke
out during the heavy snow, in a meadow situated on the sea-
coast, and more than two leagues away from infected cattle.
In the space of ten days his other two herds of cows which
were at pasture, those which were in stables, the year's calves,
those of two and three years old, and his lean pigs, were all
attacked ; only his fat hogs were spared. There was not a
case amongst the animals belonging to his nearest neighbours,
with the exception of a herd belonging to M. Viet, whose cows
were all affected. The epizooty ceased, and did not reappear
in this canton for more than six months after. With M.
Lecanu, of Maisy, more than sixty horned beasts were attacked
in three days.'

This writer's description of the affection is very clear and
correct, but he only gives the symptoms in somewhat more
detail than the other observers, and offers no unusual features.
He then goes on to say : ' In ordinary cases it is rare that the
cows are more than ten days before they take to their food
again ; then lactation begins ; all the mouth-and-foot symp-
toms of the malady seem to disappear ; but then ensues the
disease of the udder which, as well as the teats, becomes more
or less thickly covered with pustules, which are sometimes
even confluent. In all the dairies of Bessin, when the mam-
mary eruption has been observed, it has been eight days,
fifteen days, and even three weeks after the mouth and feet
have been cured. It is very rare to see the disease affect the

350 History of Animal Plagzies.

udder and the other parts at the same time. In many herds
this gland has not been attacked, or but very slightly. The
vesicles on it are whitish, transparent, and crystalline in their
centre ; as they become older they have a yellow tint, and at
last become nearly red around their margins. A fact which
is nearly always constant may assist us in discovering what
the nature of this disease of the mammary glands may be ;
it is this, that a great number of cows of different herds have
transmitted these pustules to the people who usually milk
them, and who have cuts or excoriations on their hands or
arms. It is necessary to remember this truth, that it is only
with non-vaccinated people that the pimples or vesicles are
so developed that they sometimes become confluent, and are
so numerous that these persons are not pnly obliged to give
up milking, but every other kind of work. With vaccinated
people this condition was replaced by small red spots and
a slight itching. The vesicles pass through the same phases
as those which are produced by the vaccine virus, from which
they do not appear to differ. I think we may consider them
as being of the same nature as the cow-pox. When the
pustules {bouiojis) are burst, the act of milking makes the
teats and the udder bleed ; the cow experiences acute pain,
and becomes restive. This state may become complicated in
a serious and troublesome manner, for it may happen that
one or more of the teats increases in volume, and that the
inflammation attacks the mammary glands, especially if there
are any pimples about the teat which obstruct its canal ; then
the inflammation becomes very acute. It may terminate in
many ways : a. By resolution, which is very rare. To attain
this result it is necessary that the canal be not entirely closed,
but that the milk may escape along its whole length, b. By
atrophy ; then the lactiferous functions are destroyed, and do
not return, even after the cow has had another calf ; they are
entirely suppressed, c. By suppuration ; in this case the milk
remains in the gland, becomes decomposed there, and forms
purulent accumulations which tend to work to the surface ;
it then escapes, portions of the gland slough away, and the
cavity fills up and cicatrises ; but soon there are formed other

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 351

abscesses which go through the same process, and these are
replaced by others, until nearly the whole of one or several
glands are destroyed, and even the whole of the teat. d. By
gangrene ; then the gland or the entire teat comes away in
a single piece, and. exhales a most nauseating odour. The
induration of the glands also happens sometimes as a conse-
quence of suppuration, or of chronic inflammatory swelling ;
then the organ is hard and insensible, often also the teat is
wholly or in part gangrenous. In this condition, if we attempt
to empty it, we only draw with difficulty a reddish, bloody
matter, possessing an extremely foetid smell. This compli-
cation is much to be dreaded, for not only does it entirely or
in part suppress the secretion of milk, but it also takes away
the animal's appetite ; it becomes emaciated, falls into a kind
of marasmus, and never becomes fat. ... I cannot finish that
which relates to the cow, without refuting an error which is
wide enough spread. It has been said that the milk of the
cow, during the malady, and even for a long time after, is bad
and unhealthy. It is not so. In the first place, it was said
that before the invasion of the epizooty, a pustular disease
somewhat similar to it was seen in Bessin ; according to
many physicians and veterinary surgeons, it attacked men
and animals. The cows' milk remained the same. During
the epizooty, so far from losing any of its good qualities, it
was on the contrary more rich in butter, and all things being
equal, the same quantity of milk given after the disease
yielded more butter than before, a circumstance that as-
tonished the farmers. Although the pigs had only been
attacked in the feet, the disease was none the less trouble-
some, especially to the dealers. It was all the more serious
when these creatures were travelled much on the road. The
instantaneous shedding of the hoofs was the consequence ;
the first thing noticed was the separation of the hornj and its
loss was almost immediate. The journeys these animals
made doubtless augmented the intensity of the malady ; but
this was not the primary cause, for in the farms of Bessin the
hogs which scarcely ever moved out of their sties felt, and
that strongly, the effects of the epizooty. The sows which

352 History of Animal Plagues.

C!f they we.-e. the greater was the ^onaHty"; Jl^^

The tardiness with which the epizooty crent alon^r ;„ a.
years .„ the west of France contracts curiou fy : hfhe ltd
.t assumed m .ts course through Germany in isjS It tookl
year to come to Brittany from the extreme west : it each J
he canton of Quimperle, department of Finis^rrl 'iXutv
fZ ^rr-^y Surgeon Binet writes from this p ac"
follows : An ep.zootic aphthous alTection, which had never L
he memory of hvmg man been in this locality before showed
Itself th,s year with great intensity, and spared bm a smaM
number of cattle in the arrondissement. From the symrl
I have observed, ,t appears to me to be of the same Ltu H
«.e disease which in Z764 broke out in Moravia, wW i

is' o t, tn"'^ • ''''P' P'^' ■■" "^^ -SOS

stance i'n .st "'^'T'^ °' ^"'^

stance, m 1819, m the department of the Loire. Should we

consider the malady that I am about to describe as con
tag.ous? I think not; for although it has followed a pro
gress,ve march from north to south, and though vve aTe
.nchned to beheve that the great trade in cattle among the
.nhab,tants of the country has contributed much to propfgl
he malady, nevertheless I have on many occasions obsefved
that an ox or cow coming from a district where the epizooty
re.gned, and put into a cow-shed where it did not exist d d
no communicate it to the others, and was alone affecied •
nothmg m the form of the disease occurred in these stables'
as a consequence. Besides, it is easy to find a cause for this
affection m the continual rains which prevailed during the year
1841. and m the bad quality of the forage made in this year
J he epizooty had principally attacked the horned cattle ■ never-
theless, pigs and horses have not been exempt. The'follow-
■ng are the symptoms I have observed : At the commence-
ment the animal eats but little; the muzzle is dry, there is

^Ltnigne,. Recudl cle M^d. Velcr. vol. xij. pp. ;6l, Sss.

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 353

dulness ; the feces are dry and black, sometimes streaked
with blood ; the mouth hot and slimy ; the tongue shows a
great number of small, red elevations, the summits of which
become white in a short time, and they are often so closely
interspersed that not unfrequently they coalesce and form but
one. At this time, if we catch hold of the tongue for the pur-
pose of inspecting the mouth, the mucous membrane of that
organ comes entirely away, as if it were a sheath, leaving the
tongue quite raw. These aphthae are also observed on the
muzzle, at the orifices of the nostrils, the roots of the horns,
and between the hoofs ; in this case they occasion much
lameness. In cows they become developed on the udder. In-
testinal irritation is manifested by slight colicky pains and the
dryness of the faeces, which, as already mentioned, are sometimes
streaked with blood. The disease manifests itself very slightly
in the larger ruminants, but a peculiarity worthy of remark is,
that all the calves reared by cows having aphthae on their teats
perished; they appeared to -ingest along with the milk the
germs of the malady, which, at their tender age, they had not
strength to resist. The autopsy of these young animals has
not revealed anything more than an amount of intestinal irri-
tation intense enough to cause death. The epizooty has pre-
vailed somewhat severely among pigs ; in those which died,
and which I had an opportunity of examining, I have also
observed the lesions of gastro-enteritis, of which the aphthous
affection only appeared to be a symptom.'^

The Annual Report of the L}-ons Veterinary School in-
forms us that the malady was in that locality in 1839-40.^

Various reports were published of new outbreaks in different
parts of France for some time after the invasion of 1837, even
so late as 1845. Reynal witnessed an irruption in October,
1 84 1, at St. Avoid, Moselle, when cows, pigs, and sheep were
affected.^

Italy.— In Italy the epizooty extended from west to east,
and the public papers announce its outbreak in Upper Italy

1 Annales de la Soc. des Veter. du Depart, du Finisterre, vol. iv. p. 12
^ Recueil de Med. Veter. vol. xvii. p. 688.
' Reyual. Ibid.

23

354 History of Animal Plagues.

|n 1838. In Central Italy, from the absence of any mention
o Its appearance m the journals for 1838, it may be concluded
hat nothing was known of it until 1839. In the spring of

Air^':^TrV' " ^^^"^ "PP^^ ^^Il^y of the

Arno: At the begmning of the spring the "lameness"

^P-^f) appeared with us, but not in a malignant form ;
nevertheless it greatly interfered with trade.- In the summe.-
it IS stated: 'Amongst cattle the " lameness " is spreading
but bemgnantly.'^ The accounts of the malady in this coun
try, and particularly in the journal from which these extracts
are taken, are very exact and complete, but none of them
except the above notices, refer to the time of invasion.

Naples.— The malady arrived in August. 1839. The vete-
rinary professor. Signor Valentine, reports it under date of the
30th August : ' The regular visits I made, along with the
governor of markets, to the slaughter-houses of this city in
1834, gave me an opportunity of studying, though somewhat
superficially, the malady which attacked cattle, and was also
common among sheep and pigs. Now that the same disease
has shown itself in different provinces, I have been desired by
his Excellency the Syndic, the Duke of Bagnoli. to make a
tour of inspection of the districts around the capital, for the
purpose of discovering if any animals were infected, and this
1 have done. . . . This malady, commonly known in Naples
as "ambolla,"has received different designations in the several
departments of the kingdom by the learned as well as by the
Ignorant, such as "enzootic lameness" {zoppina aizobtica),
' enzootic aphtha " (afta enzodtica\ "vesicular disease" (;«^/
dt ambolld), and "mouth disease" {mal della bocca), and is
often confounded with glossanthrax, etc. These names, which
express different diseases, have given rise to equivocal ideas
in the minds of some people who have not sufficiently studied
the malady, and who have consequently classified it accord-
ing to their own convenience. . .

'At the commencement the animals are somewhat dull, and
manifest more or less febrile disturbance ; there is a diminu-
tion or cessation of rumination ; mucus and foam flow from.

^ Giornale Agrario Toscano, vol. xiii. p. 259. -i Ibij. ji. 3S3,

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 355

the mouth and nostrils. When the mouth is examined, we
see the mucous membrane is unusually inflamed ; the gums
are swollen ; there is also a preternatural I'edness of the
membrane lining the nasal cavities, and the secretion is so
augmented as to look like an incipient catarrh. There is
difficulty in eating, and in cows the secretion of milk becomes
altered. There is lameness in the feet in this disease. One
symptom I have observed in the present malady is cramp (or
spasms) of the posterior extremities, particularly in those
animals which have not the pustules or ulcerations of the feet.
After the second or third day of the febrile attack, which is
accompanied by diminution or cessation of rumination and
by difficult digestion, and the mucous and frothy discharge
from the mouth, the aphthae show themselves as small vesicles
on the internal parts of the lips, on the margins of the tongue,
on the frsenum, palate, and particularly on the gums ; the
vesicles continue to enlarge, and become confluent in various
places, and change into so many ulcers ; they are of a white
or yellow colour, acquire the size of a pea or a bean, and be-
come filled with a viscid lymph, which afterwards becomes
puriform. Sometimes lameness sets in simultaneously with
the above-mentioned symptoms — the feet swell, and the hoof
becomes very hot ; which condition announces the formation
of an inflammatory tumour between the toes. The vesicles
having coalesced, there is emitted a humour which flows like
that from a scald or burn. The pustules begin to dry up
about the fifth or seventh day of their eruption ; after which
the epithelium in these parts detaches itself, and recovery takes
place. The ulcers which develop themselves on the body and
on the sides of the gums heal spontaneously ; but at other
times, as I have witnessed, under the unfavourable circum-
stances of bad management, a hot summer, an intense heat,
etc., the disease in these parts has lasted much longer, and the
sores have occasioned various local alterations ; they extend,
become deeper, and produce alveolar abscesses and fistulae,
and the teeth fall out. Ocular inspection and slight pressure
have often enabled me to discover the formation and existence
of matter between the teeth and the alveolar cavities, which

23—2

356 History of Animal Plagues.

iut'Vi' '° ' ^^^^ ^^^^-"^^y the tex-

tu es of these parts altered, and producing various and
numerous hypertrophied masses like so many of those fleshy
tumours of a fungoid nature called "figs," or condylomata

wTth d^ffiTir''% "^-'^^ '''' ^"^-^^^ "^-ticate

with difficulty, and ruminate very slowly. At other times

when recovery has taken place, these tubercles and the altered

ofThe t'e^r T? ^"PP^^ ^" the loss

of the teeth. The cure is easily effected, and without the use
of any therapeutic remedies, in a few days.

' Dry spring-weather, scarcity of herbage, and atmospheric
variations, should all be regarded as circumstances ^'lich
having been general over the kingdom, were likely to produce
such an epizooty as this. The protracted and excessive heat
of the summer season, by rendering the fields arid, deprives
the vegetation of its nutritious principles, which are necessary
for the regulation of the digestive process. The plants have
not only been altered by this aridity of the soil, which pre-
vented their obtaining the materials necessary for their proper
growth but also disposed them to the depredation of insects
^viiich have altered their parenchyma and organization. The
direct and continuous influence of the burning heat of the
summer throughout the entire season, upon both vegetables
and animals, has contributed to upset the great digestive de-
purative. and nutritive functions, and induced in the animal
organism a morbid condition, which beneficent Nature has re-
moved by means of the critical production of a local malady,
lo induce such an affection, the mechanical effect of the hard
and dry herbage, rendered so by the heat, mainly contributed
giving rise, as it did. to a hot and slightly inflammatory state
of parts of the mouth ; while the hardness of the soil produced
the disease in the feet.

'By many people similar exulcerations have been confounded
with " cancro volante " and glossanthrax. Besides all this, we
at the Veterinary School, in this emergency, have received in-
formation concerning this disease from some district veterinary
surgeons, declaring it to be contagious. But that the malady
IS a contagious one is disputed, because of its benignity (?),

Period from A.D. 1836 io A.D. 1840. 357

and particularly because of its reappearing in certain seasons,
through recurring and palpable causes ; also from its having
been observed that many healthy animals of the same species,,
after mediate, or even immediate contact of the matter from^
the local alterations, which was inoculated in the thin mem-
brane of the lips, palate, etc., have remained free from the
above-described malady.' ^

Great Britain. — The ekzematous epizooty being entirely
unknown in this country previously, its sudden advent caused
much confusion and alarm among veterinary surgeons, no less
than among agriculturists. Though at first its attacks were com-
paratively mild, yet the fact that it was a ' new murrain ' seems
to have diverted the attention of professional men from investi-
gating its source, or even inquiring if it existed, or had ever
been seen, elsewhere. For this reason, and from its appearance
being generally believed to be due to ' something ' in the air,
no attempts were at first made to ascertain its commence-
ment in the kingdom. The subject of imported animal
diseases had attracted no attention ; nothing appears to have
been known of those deadly contagions which prevailed more
or less frequently and seriously on the Continent, and which
might at any moment be introduced among the hitherto un-
contaminated herds and flocks of our island.

Some writers speak of the malady as first manifesting itself
on the east coast of Norfolk, but we have no positive proof of
this. Finlay Dun asserts that it appeared in England in the
spring of 1839. ' It was first observed in some of the south-
eastern counties ; but whether it sprung up spontaneously, or
was imported from the Continent, does not seem to have been
clearly ascertained. It is, however, extremely probable that
the malady was brought from abroad, either by the intro-
duction of cattle, or of the skins of animals that had died from
the disease, or been slaughtered while under its influence.
But, whatever may have been the mode of its origin or intro-
duction, it soon made itself widely known throughout Eng-
land, and rapidly spread both to the west and to the north.

^ Valentini. Delia Epizoozia Aftosa sviluppata tra gli Animali Vaccini nella
stagione estiva del 1839. Naples, 1839.

358 History of Animal Plagues.

Within a year of its first appearance in England, it had com-

entin " ^ad engaged the

attention of many practitioners north of the Tweed ' ^

An Insh newspaper at the commencement of 1 841 says •
The disease among cattle-a sort of influenza-travelLd
through Spam, Portugal, France, Switzerland nJland
Belgium, Bohemia, Hungary, and Prussia, mak ng its appear '

anTi:i ' ' ^^^^^ - efsternToast

and IS now raging with considerable violence in the west I

thus appears to be following the same course as the cholera

Professor Sewell, under date of July r, 1841, reports : ' The
disease had not made its appearance in England before the
summer of 1839, and with few exceptions had broken out in
the stock of those members' (of the Royal Agricultural
Society Svho have sent communications. . . . . Some mem
bers state that it prevails in their immediate neighbourhood
and others at several miles' distance. It is generally reported
not to have prevailed extensively before 1840, and then to
have attacked all kinds of stock indiscriminately, even poultry
dogs, cats, and deer. Influenza, by some called ' distemper '
catarrhs and sore throats, prevailed much among horses before
the epidemic (epizooty), during its prevalence, and after it
had ceased, and pulmonary diseases proved fatal in several
cases. As far as situation, nature of the soil, and general
features or aspect of the country are described, no exemption
from disease is recorded, whether mountainous, hilly flat
wooded, or open, dry or damp, intersected by rivers or canals'
or in the vicinity of marshes, ponds, ditches, or any stagnant
waters. It has been attributed by some to the prevalence of
east or north-east winds; others supposed it induced or
brought by the south and west winds. Some are of opinion
It has been produced by fogs, and abounded more in valleys,
on the banks of rivers, and low damp situations ; others
attribute the outbreaks to communication by the herdsmen,
shepherds, or persons employed about cattle. Its attacks'

^ Dun. The Veterinarian, vol, xxiii. p. 686.
2 The Dublin Evening Mail.

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 359

appear to have commenced, whatever was the quarter from
which the wind blew, and under all temperatures, throughout
the year, commencing and ceasing at uncertain periods ; and
the disease did not vary in its symptoms except when the
atmospheric temperature was highest; then inflammatory
action was more intense, and the disease more fatal, especially
among animals that travelled to fairs or markets ; by which
it was introduced into premises and farms heretofore exempt,
and thus became disseminated in healthy districts. Fever
was increased by fatigue in travelling. The feet became
acutely inflamed, causing the hoofs to shed or exfoliate, and
many animals were in consequence slaughtered on the roads.
Young animals appeared to be more exempt from attacks
than the full-grown ; but in comparing the number affected,
it was more fatal, and often more speedily so, in them than in
the adult animals. The house and exposed stock of all ages
and conditions were equally subject to attacks from general
causes. In some cases, supposed to arise from infection or
contagion, the symptoms appeared as early as the second
day ; in others several weeks elapsed after exposure to the
infection before they made their appearance. One corres
pondent states that himself and all his family and domestic^
were attacked on the lips and in the mouth in consequence
of using the milk of his diseased cows ; and that a foal living
with them had an attack of farcy and glanders of which it
died. (The following circumstance was related to me by the
dairyman of a large farm in Dorsetshire : The smell of fresh
blood often affects cows in a straw-yard, making them appear
as if frantic. After milking the diseased cows, the dairyman
overturned the pail in the straw-yard ; the cows were greatly
excited in the same manner, smelling at it, and fighting to
keep each other away from the spot where the diseased milk
lay.) The disease generally commenced in the mouths of
bullocks, cows, and calves, by the appearance of blisters and
ulcers on the tongue, and sore throats in some ; the feet at
the same time, or very soon after, became ulcerated, as also
the palate, lips, and nose. It was accompanied by rigors or
chills, succeeded by feverish heat. The noses and feet of pigs

History of Animal Plagties.

were attacked, but the feet only of sheep exceot ;„ . f
.nstances in which the souths afteed, as S c tie Z
da. y cows the teats became affected with p'ustules and ulcer
at the sanic t,me as the mouth, the udders subsequently
became mflamed and tumefied ; and abscesses were7ormed
termmatmg frequently in a total loss of milk, and Tn tes'
severe cases, in a diminution of nuantitv Th.
in-cair cows and ba.en cows we^r^fvi^^^^^^^^^^ ^
cows hav:ng recently calved suffered most, more especfal in

constitutmg the disease commonly called garget • abscesses
and ulcer, also were found in various parts If H lilTInd
body especially the points bearing the animal's wd^.t w^^^^

^h'so Ziht '^^^^^^ oftenltLnded

, ^ u ? ^"^ prostration of strength and constitu-
honal debhty, that the animal was incapable of Tng or
changmg :ts position, which caused extensive ulcers, absceles
and frequently death from irritation and exhaustion I few
cases of second attacks are reported to have occurred and
even third attacks are mentioned ; but these are excepHons
There are reports of some having been herded with infected
animals and entirely escaping, and some that had gone
through the disease, and, although re-exposed in diseased
herds, had no renewal. In one report vaccine inoculation
fiom a child IS said to have lessened the seventy of the
disease. Low condition is also said to have diminished its
virulence. In the few that had second attacks the disease in
some IS stated to have been in a severer, and in others in its
usual form. (Preventive treatment has been resorted to
successfully, as reported in some cases, but failed in others
such as smearing the noses, feet, backs, loins, and horns at
intervals with tar. Others have applied it about the premises.)
.... Abortion has seldom occurred, nor has the produce of
any stock been born diseased, although the mothers were
labouring under it during parturition. Some newly-born
animals became sickly in two or three days after birth, and
died apparently from constitutional disturbance. Others, in
which the usual symptoms became manifest, were cut off

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 361

within a week. It is stated to have appeared in the feet of
sucking pigs only. Upon the subsidence of the disease many-
cattle were attacked with cutaneous eruptions, which usually-
yielded to the remedies employed in ordinary cases of
mange. In the few post-mortem examinations that were
made, a diseased state of some, and in others of all, the vital
organs appeared, and marked inflammatory action had been
general throughout the system. The epidemic disappeared
in some farms and dairies in about a month, and in others
extended to six months. The cattle that have suffered from
the disease in the country are estimated to have been reduced
in value five per cent., which is much below the London
estimate, and dairy-cows having newly calved are calculated
to have lost thirty per cent, of their original value.' ^

In a lecture on the ' Diseases of Cattle,' delivered by Mr.
Cherry at the London Farmers' Club, in October, 1847, there
is reference made to this period ; but the lecturer strangely
confounded the horse-influenza and contagious pleuro-
pneumonia with the vesicular or ekzematous epizooty.
Speaking perhaps of this malady, he makes the following
remarks : ' In 1840 the disease broke out amongst horses and
sheep simultaneously. I speak now of my own immediate
district. But for a considerable period before this I had heard
that rumours v/ere rife that there was a disease of an epidemic
character prevailing in the west of England, more particularly
in the low parts of Somersetshire and on the rich lands about
Bridgewater, Thence it gradually spread through the upper
part of Somersetshire, until, in the month of July, it was just
on the upper border of the county of Wilts, where it jumped,
about a fortnight afterwards, into the valley of the Test, then
towards Basingstoke, and when it had reached that point it
seemed to have .acquired great force, and it spread rapidly
throughout the entire kingdom. All these points are almost
in a direct line west and east. But there were several lines
parallel, as it were, to each other ; and while the disease was
advancing in the same direction, there was at the same time
a small spreading out laterally, until, in the upper part of

1 W. Sewill. Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England. 1841,

362 History of Aiiimal PlagzLes.

Hampshire, the lines seemed to coalesce. In a few months
the disease was, as I have stated, rife from one end of th
kingdom to the other; cattle, sheep, and horses being al
attacked. It even affected animals living in the state offZ
natur^ It was very peculiar in its cours! at that period.i^
m fact ,t IS so at the present time. It would take one par
only of a stable. There was one stall with a horse affected

rJld'tT f - effected. It'

would take a farm m the same manner; and I have even
known It take part of a flock. Swine were affected in the
same way, and even poultry did not escape. There were
some cn-cumstances connected with it which are peculiarly
worthy of notice. On investigation I found an entire change
in the system of an animal affected. Instead of finding blood
which was full, rich, and sufficient to carry on the functions of
nie, 1 found watery blood.'^

^ But these general statements are not much to our purpose
m tracing the progress or character of the affection in the
several counties and districts, especially as the somewhat
ample accounts from veterinary surgeons throughout the
kingdom, thanks to the efforts of Mr. Youatt, furnish us with
materials for the compilation of a tolerable description. We
will take these reports in the order in which they detail the
advent of the respective local outbreaks.

NORTHAMPTONSHIRK-Messrs. J. and G. Hawthorn, of
Kettering, report : 'We are situated in the midland part of
England. The country round has a gentle undulating sur-
face, intersected by small rivulets. The nearest point of the
river Nen is eight miles distant. The neighbourhood is
studded here and there with woods, and on the north-east
with an extensive tract of woodland forest. The soil is, for
the most part, light and dry, with a considerable mixture of
black heavy land; but, on the whole, vvell-drained. It is
more of an arable than grazing district. The previous feeding
for some months had been in the straw-yard and the stall,
and the usual quantity of cattle in the fields were foddered
with hay when necessary.

^ The Veterinarian, vol. xx. p. 644.

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 363

'The epidemic first made its appearance in March, 1839.
The weather had been rather rainy. The month of March
had its usual character and proportion of storms and
-easterly winds. February gave us some fine weather and
less wet, on the whole, than usual ; but all the other
winter months, and the whole of 1839, were remarkable
for the extraordinary quantity of rain which fell. The dis-
ease first appeared among some fresh-bought lots of north-
country cows, but we cannot tell whether they had caught it
on their journey. Afterwards the cattle which lay near to
roads were most liable to infection. The above cows had
come from large fairs. The next two or three lots were
either home-bred or had been on the farm for many months.
There were some infected cattle about two miles from the
first of these lots, up the same valley, and the wind was in the
quarter to carry any miasma to those below them. At the
same time, the owner of those to which we are referring had
twenty more bullocks in a straw-yard in the same direction,
about a mile off, and they escaped. ... It frequently occurred
afterwards, and there is reason to think, in many cases, that
servants communicated the disease ; as we also believe that
the shepherds who attended diseased cattle communicated
it to their sheep. Very early, however, after the epidemic
appeared, shepherds were forbidden to attend cattle, and
persons who did attend them were kept from healthy cattle as
much as possible. We cannot doubt about the disease being
both infectious and contagious. Several calves from diseased
cows have had the disease the first, or second, or third day
after their birth ; some few have died, but most recovered.
Generally speaking no cattle escaped that lay together, and
those that were in a neighbouring yard or close were almost
invariably affected. At different times during the last year,
when the disease had abated and almost disappeared, it was
sure to break out again after any of our periodical fairs in the
country round. In fact, we expected it beforehand, especially
if they were large fairs. In several cases the disease first
appeared after a cow had been sent to the bull, where the dis-
ease was, or had recently been. That it is contagious is, we

364 History of Animal Plagues.

think, also proved by its being easily communicated by inocu-

saliva to the hps of the healthy animal. In one case a dis
eased cow went into a farm-yard for half an hour, and then
was turned into the field. There were no other cows in the
yard. In a day or two the pigs were all diseased. In one
mstance a farrier gave a cow a drench with a horn with which
he had just been drenching diseased beasts ; the cow and all
the other cattle on the farm very soon had the disease
Staring of the coat, looking thin, saliva hanging about 'the
mouth in bladders, or hanging from the lips nearly to the
ground ; smacking of the jaws together with a peculiar noise •
stiffness, lameness, shaking first one foot and then the other'
and also costiveness, were the most common symptoms In a
great majority of cases the mouth was first affected-now and
then the feet. The pulse was quickened, sometimes full and
hard, and sometimes depressed, or not altered in slight cases
Blisters were on the tongue and membrane lining the lips
followed by sloughing. There was ulceration and sloughing
of the membrane connecting the claws, and ulceration and
separation of the hoof at the coronet and heels, accompanied
by a most offensive smell both from the mouth and feet • also
inability to graze or to eat loose food in bad cases,' etc' 'In
some few cases there was ulceration of the base of the horns
similar to the coronet, and ulceration of the alse of the nose.'
• Nearly all the cattle (all in many or most parishes) in the
neighbourhood have been affected. We cannot tell the num-
ber we have attended and prescribed for; Ave believe it would
be considerably under-rated at fifteen hundred. We think we
have not been without some patients above one or two weeks
since March last. We do not imagine that one has died fairly
and exclusively from the epidemic, and that had been well
treated from the first. We have known a few die from star-
vation, caused by gross neglect.' ' Some few have had abscesses
formed in the knees, humeral muscles, hocks, and among the
flexor tendons ; but for the most part, if not wholly, these
have been neglected cases. There are more dying now
(January, 1 841) in this county than at any other time since

Period front A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 365

the disease first appeared ; but they are newly-bought beasts,
that travelled day after day in the late frost, their feet cut and
worn to the bone by the sharp and hard roads ; their consti-
tutions undermined by pain, want of food and rest ; and their
muscles inflamed by extraordinary exertion to save their feet.
Many of these are distressing cases. In several we have had
to take out the toes of the coffin-bones, and in others there
were large effusions of thin, brown, foetid pus under the skin
over the sacrum, pelvis, and thighs ; and when these tumours
are opened, large pieces of mortified muscles, the size of a
man's hand, have been extracted. Of course, these have been
murdered by travelling when ill. . . . The milk is generally
diminished in quantity and quality, frequently ropy, and like
curds and whey. Too often the secretion is of a dark brown
colour and foetid ; and the udders of many cows will be per-
manently injured. We have not found the age of the animal,
except in the very young calf, the sucking-calf, influence the
complaint. We have not seen a case of the same animal
having the disease twice. ... A gentleman, upon whose in-
telligence and judgment we can rely, told us he had a cow
which had the disease twice. . . . We have been told by a
clerical gentleman that this disease has always been known
in the East Indies, and that it is looked for regularly after the
periodical rains.' ^

Buckinghamshire. — Mr. Youatt writes : ' In the latter
part of 1839 a disease, or rather a combination of diseases,
began to appear among cattle in various parts of the United
Kingdom. Even in its earliest stage it was composed of
maladies whose seat was far distant from each other, whose
symptoms were altogether unlike, and yet that were, sooner
or later, inseparable and fatal companions. The mouth and
the feet, the organs of assimilation and of respiration, so dif-
ferent in their character and in their management, were equally
involved.

' In May, 1839, according to Mr. Beeson, of Amersham, the
disease began to be prevalent in his neighbourhood, and,
some months before, several of the cattle had been somewhat

^ The Veterinarian, vol. xiv. p. 184.

66

History of Animal Plagues.

tender-footed and tender-mouthed. Mr. Wardle. of East
Sheen, informed me that in May and June of the

^°-y June oi the samp v(=ii-

an ep,demic affecting both the feet and the mouth exTsted ,
h.s neighbourhood, but presently disappeared. In the month
of August and September in the same year it broke olraga

and contmued to appear at uncertain intervals until the summer

counC.'" " " ""^^ P""^

Mr. Lepper writes from Aylesbury as follows : ' The soil is
various, but principally a rich mould of a dark colour on a
subsoi of stiff clay, particularly throughout the lower part of
the vale, which abounds with exceedingly rich pasture, pro-
bably surpassed by none in this our great agricultural county
In other parts, where the soil is less rich, the subsoil is hard
sandstone, and in some places coarse gravel. Near the Chil-
tern Hills the soil is less productive, being of a kind of chalky
clay, below which chalk and chalkstone abound. The cows
during their time of lactescence, are liberally supplied with
hay twice in the day throughout the winter months They
are turned to pasture both day and night the whole year and
are put mto cow-houses or sheds morning and evening for the
purpose of being milked. When they are allowed hay at the
season above stated, they remain long enough-from two to
three hours-to fill themselves. A great number of oxen are
fattened by grass only, and sent to Smithfield about Michael-
mas ; those intended for Christmas are taken about this time
(Michaelmas) into houses, and profusely fed on the best-
selected hay and oil-cake.

' The first case that came under my own observation was in
the month of February, 1840. I heard of one farmer having
the disease among his cows as far back as November, 1839.
I did not see them, and, of course, cannot answer for the
accuracy of the report. The weather had been exceedingly
wet from July, 1839, to March, 1840, and the land so com-
pletely sodden, that it was with great difficulty the beasts
could walk on it in many situations. Mr. Tomlin, of Rousham,
was the proprietor of thirty-two head of cattle (twenty-eight
^ The Veterinarian, vol. xv. p. 444.

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 367

killing cows, two stirks, and two bulls), all of which had the
epizootic disease. I first saw them on the 1 6th of February,
1840. One had died on the 15th; another I directed to be
immediately killed on account of the miserable state in which
it was ; four died afterwards, and many very slowly recovered.
Mr. Tomlin states as his opinion, that he brought the disease
to his own cows by purchasing two heifers about ten days
previous to its outbreak ; but this is very doubtful, as neither
of those heifers were, apparently, affected by the disease until
a day or two after his cows showed symptoms of it. A Mr.
Cox, of Scot's Grove, who, perhaps, has had more cases of
disease than anyone in this county, affirms that he introduced
the complaint among his cattle by purchasing some barren
cows with the disease on them. About forty had the disease
at the time I saw them, which was on the 25th of February
last.

' I am of opinion that it is a contagious disease, although it
may be difficult for me to give the why and the wherefore.
I have attended cattle affected with the disease, the property
of fifty-two persons, out of which number about fifteen or
twenty positively affirm that they brought the disease to their
stock by purchasing heifers, many of which were bought at
the fairs at Leighton Buzzard, in Bedfordshire, and at Winslow,
In Buckinghamshire. Nearly the whole of the beasts that were
purchased at Bristol fair, in the month of April last, either
came home with the disease on them, or fell ill with it in a
very few days after their being safe in the possession of their
new owners. There are many instances on record which, I
think, go a great way to prove that it is contagious. . . .

^Symptoms. — A watery eye; slight erection of the hair;
horns and feet alternately hot and cold (the latter most fre-
quent) ; pulse a little accelerated, about 70 or 75 ; continual
shifting of the limbs and shaking of the feet, as though at-
tempting to rid them of some foreign body. In the course of
a few hours the cutis is raised in the form of vesicles at the
point and dorsum of the tongue ; on the gum of the upper jaw,
at that part which approximates to the incisors of the lower
jaw; around the alae of the nose, and at the point; on the

368 History of Animal Plagues.

bowels vancusly affected : in some cases theTLe ltxed

Which a.e ,iw„, an

J J . paintul and troublesome ulcere pr^

produced part,cularly at the punctures, where the conseTueM
.nflammation and thickening entirelv exclude rt» u ,

: trrh7«::;r:r — " i^^^ r'^

wim tne hnal loss of one or more quarters of the mammae anH
jn some mstances the loss of the cow. Fortunate~'a t r
IS not a very common termination. . I find if fit 7^

roTrfLtri^ ™"ch^t'■:l:ra°:*::

affected, the reet are .e„:^, Tuch wl ^^nT , if ett
mstances the whole of the horny sole separates ; conseTuem y
he lameness continues a very considerable time, ™t I a n v
sole forms, when the use of the drawing-knife is required fo
he purpose of removing any remains of sole. I, 'more !l
favourable cases, inflammation extends to the deepl- eaW
cellular tissue, and considerable sloughins; takes DlarVl,./
and in front of the hoofs, and occaslnafly the Hlamentr"
not exempt. When this is the case a fever J , ,
character, and to an alarming e^ie^t, mencefL
numerous abscesses-purulent abscesses -form about the

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 369

' I have attended nine hundred patients, out of which
fourteen have been lost. . . . The loss I imagine to be less
than two per cent. As the disease progressed, it (like all
other epidemic or epizootic diseases) lost, to a certain extent,
its severe characters, particularly in the warm and dry summer
and autumn season, at which time many hundreds recovered
with little or no treatment. Since, however, the wet season
commenced, it has been a little more severe. Lameness is
more frequent and troublesome in wet weather than in dry, in
consequence of dirt insinuating itself between the old sepa-
rating sole and the newly-formed one. . . . The disease was
not influenced either by age, sex, or condition. Anything
which tended to debilitate the system, such as crowding them
in ill-ventilated situations, long drifts, standing in fairs or
markets, etc., appeared to predispose them more readily to

: take on the disease.'^

Suffolk. — Mr. Rush, of Bungay, writes in January, 1840:
* The peculiar epizooty which has been and is now raging
amongst neat-stock and pigs in various parts of England, has
not made its appearance within the sphere of practice in which
I am engaged ; but my attention was called, in November, to

: some diseased bullocks and pigs at Mr. Thomas Burton's,
Langley Grange ; and as lately as Friday, January 3rd, to
some bullocks the property of Mr. W. Jex, Toft, both in
Norfolk.

'On November 7th, 1839, Mr. Thomas Burton, of Langley
I Grange, observed two fresh Devon bullocks (which had been
I worked on the farm) froth at the mouth, and appear dull and
off their feed. At first he thought they were choked, but as
they were not blown he was not alarmed. On the 8th they
continually kept snatching up their hind-legs by turns, did
! not feed, dribbled and frothed more at the mouth, and fre-
quently smacked their lips together, making a slight noise, as
if you gently clapped the fingers of one hand on the hollow
palm of the other. Not feeling satisfied as to the cause of
these symptoms, and the beasts looking thin, Mr. Burton sent
; for Mr. D. Hunting, of Loddon, who usually attends his sick

^ //. Lepper, The Veterinarian, vol. xiv. p. 82.

24

-1

70 History of Aftimal Plagues.

stock Having never seen similar cases, Mr. Hunting very
candidly expressed himself somewhat at a loss, and, as several
more bullocks had become afifected, requested that Mr. John
Wells V.S., Norwich, and Mr. R. Duffield, V.S., Bungay
should also be consulted. These gentlemen found the inferior
portion of the dorsum of the tongue and the membrane linino-
the anterior lip and gums vesiculated in several places. Some
of the vesicles, being already broken, presented a healthy ex-
coriated (not ulcerated) surface. The discharge from the
vesicles was of a thin, serous character, and, in the beasts first
affected, very foetid ; this arose, probably, from neglect Their
feet were not much noticed at first, although they were evi-
dently lame. Mr. Wells thought at first that the beasts were
affected with blain (glossanthrax) ; but Mr. Duffield imagined
It might arise from eating the tops of mildewed turnips
After the third day the vesicles ceased to form about the
mouth, hps, etc., but the pain in the feet became intolerable •
the beasts were always lying down. On examination, vesicles
and excoriated patches were found between the heels and on
the cuticle of the coronet. ... The pigs which ate the refuse
from Mr. Burton's bullocks were observed to limp, smack their
hps, and snatch up their hind-legs in a similar manner to the
bullocks. The mouths and feet were quite as much excori-
ated ; and they were removed into a separate yard, where
they were supplied with clean wheat-straw, and fed with pol-
lard, milk-swill, etc. Of fifteen bullocks belonging to Sir W.
Beauchamp Proctor (which were fed in the park, a corner of
which adjoins Mr. Burton's yards), four only were afibcted
similar to Mr. Burton's. . . . There were twenty-seven short-
horn and Devon bullocks attacked at Mr. Burton's, com-
mencing November 8th and subsiding about, the 22nd of the
same month ; from judicious management and nursing, these
bullocks suffered very little indeed from the epizooty.

'On January 3rd, 1840, I saw, with Mr. Hunting, twelve
bullocks which had for some time been affected at Mr. Jex's,
Toft. ^ The beasts were very thin, and food had not been
supplied them artificially when they could not eat. The feet
had not been dressed, though the animals were lame. ... I

Period front A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840, 371,

have heard casually that Mr. Hinds, a practitioner at Halver-
gate, has had a great many cases under his care, and that
some have died. Mr. Walne, who collects for Smithfield from
Norfolk, informed me on the 4th January that Mr. Richard
Reed, of Freethorpe, Norfolk, had bullocks affected with sore
mouths and feet, constipation of the bowels, and that the
fseces were black and very foetid. From this description I
suppose that the epizooty is raging there. Mr. W. observed
that it interfered very much with the usual readiness of the
beasts for market.'^

Mr. Simonds, also writing from Bungay about the same
period, says : ' On Wednesday last I accidentally met Mr.
Hinds, of Beccles, who kindly invited me to see some beasts.
.... The bullocks and cows of Mr. Matthews, of Ringsfield,
amounting to ten, have, with some pigs, been likewise affected,
. . . . Mr. Hind's son, of Halvergate, has attended upwards
of three hundred in that neighbourhood, pigs and sheep. His
apprentice, they say, was ill for four or five days with a
similar affection, viz., the vesicles on the tongue, fever, etc.'^

Sussex.— 'Mr. Habin states that, on the 25th of February,
1840, a lot of Devonshire cattle were exposed for sale in
Chichester market, the greater number of which were labouring
under the disease.' ^

Kent.— Mr. Plomley, Maidstone, says that on the i8th of
February, it showed itself in a dairy of twenty cows, all of
which had been previously in good condition, and fed on hay
and grains. He thus writes : ' The .symptoms are trembling,
staring of the coat, dulness of and discharge from the eyes,'
loss of inclination to food and rumination, febrile pulse, breath-
ing slightly hurried, bowels constipated, fseces of a dark colour,
nose dry, breath offensive, the mouth generally affected before
the feet.'*

Staffordshire.— Mr. T. Mayer, Newcastle-under-Lyne,
writes to a public paper under date January 25th, 1841 : 'The
disease is one stci generis, and, as far as my reading and

^ Abstract of the Proceedings of the Veterinary Medical Association, p. 133.
'Ibid. p. 140.

'The Veterinarian, vol. XV. p. 445. *Ibid.

24 — 2

3/2 History of Atimial Plagues.

observation go, has never prevailed in this kingdom before •
therefore, to style it the murrain, or blain. is highly incorrect'
and carries very erroneous ideas along with it, both as to its
nature and treatment. I have a vague idea that it was first

perceived in the county of Norfolk When we reflect

upon the series of unprecedented wet seasons we have ex-
perienced up to 1840, the consequent badness of fodder and
grain, the saturated state of the earth with moisture, and the
consequent decomposition of vegetable matter exhaling its
poisonous miasma into the circumambient air, we cannot feel
surprised that disease and death, in every varied form, should
be evolved in the poor fragile frame of the animal creation
It is of a highly contagious nature ; so much so, that it was
no uncommon occurrence to witness a herd of from thirty to
sixty head of cattle falling prostrate before its baneful in-
fluence in the short space of a fortnight. Its infectious pro-
perties extend to all the cloven-footed and ruminating tribe,
but not to the human subject, nor the horse and dog. On
one occasion a poor man's cow came to my establishment
labouring under the disease, and was very inadvertently put
into my cow-house to have its feet properly examined and
pared out ; although my own cow was out in the field at the
time, and only tied up at night, yet the disease developed
itself in four or five days by tenderness in her feet, followed
by the affection of the mouth, and accompanied by the general
febrile symptoms. A very erroneous idea has gone abroad,
that pigs have taken the disease from partaking of the milk
of the infected cows ; but they have simply become affected
upon the same principle as sheep, by having been allowed to
come in contact with them, or to follow after them in the
pastures or straw-yards where they have been turned out.
Pigs and calves, as a matter of experiment, have been fed
with the milk of infected animals, but kept out of the sphere
of the contagion, and have not been the least affected. My
own family, including a child twelve months old, partook of
the milk and cream of my own infected animal (being old,
milched, and near calving, we gathered no butter) without
experiencing any injurious effects. It is only where particular

Period froin A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 375

cows' udders are labouring under an attack of inflammation,
or what is called " gargeted," that the milk is required to be
flung away. Wherever this disease has assumed its epidemic
form (as in our district) like the cholera, it appears unin-
fluenced in its freaks by either weather, locality, soil, pasture,
or previous feeding — affecting the poor as well as the well-
conditioned animal, the old as well as the young, without
distinction ; but I consider those cows which were the best
milkers, and in full milking at the time of the attack, as
experiencing it more severely than others. It made its first
appearance in the northern parts of Staffordshire, near
Uttoxeter, at a few isolated farms, during the spring of last
year, in consequence of some diseased cattle, purchased at
Uttoxeter fair, and introduced into their respective herds, to
which localities it was confined ; nor was it until last autumn
that it assumed its epidemic form amongst us, when it
involved in its attacks both sheep and pigs ; at the same time
an epidemic fever, of a virulent and highly infectious nature,
broke out amongst the horses of the district, seldom sparing
a single horse in any establishment, however numerous, from

its attack It had no" connection with other diseases,

and where the animals passed through it moderately, and
were properly treated, their condition was not much affected.
In those instances where the feet suffered much, the condi-
tion was rapidly lost, and long in being recovered again. In
one instance which came under our eye, the animal had the
disease twice over ; but we consider it an exception to a
general law in nature, that peculiar contagious fevers cannot
affect the system twice over; however, it requires a more
extended series of observations than I can furnish to set this
point right. There are many strong facts which fully bear
out the opinion, that healthy animals traversing the roads
already tainted by infectious animals having travelled along
them, have taken the disease, on the same principle as a
sheep-walk infected with the foot-rot will communicate the
disease to a healthy flock turned out upon the same beat. This
points out how cautious noblemen and gentlemen possessing
deer in their parks should be in not allowing infected herds of

374 history of Aniuial Plagues.

cattle, or flocks of sheep, to pass along them. I consider, too
that It is capable of being conveyed by parties in attendance
on diseased stock to healthy herds.' The symptoms enumer-
ated do not present any unusual features, but this practitioner
adds : ' In some instances the mammary glands were attacked
with violent inflammation, which would either end in morti-
fication, or extensive formations of matter or pus amongst the
interstices of the muscles. Fortunately these extreme cases
were rare, and it was evident that the disease, as it prevails
among us, had assumed a much milder type than during its
early career. The malady consists in a highly contagious
inflammatory fever, possessing an erysipelatory type, conse-
quently bearing bleeding ill, and affecting particularly the
mucous and secreting tissues. In its regular form it runs its
course in a fortnight, the animal becoming again convalescent,
and fit to turn out gradually in the day-time, if fine, at the

end of three weeks The pigs were afl-ected similarly to

the cattle, but ran through the disease more mildly, although
in many instances their hoofs came ofl: . . . . At the same
period when the epidemic pervaded the cattle of this district,
at gradually developed itself amongst the flocks of sheep, to
the serious cost and disappointment of the farmer. It was
a singular circumstance that, at the time when it was raging
as an epidemic down in Cheshire and up in Derbyshire,
bordering on the northern part of Stafl'ordshire, we had not a
solitary case in the neighbourhood, and had a sanitary cordon
been drawn around us, it would not have been more effectually
shut out; nor was it until some of those inexplicable, myste-
rious, and inscrutable changes occurred in our atmosphere as
autumn approached (and which set at defiance all the re-
sources of science for detection and a satisfactory explanation),
that the disease assumed its epidemic character. These
atmospheric influences operate powerfully upon the animal
economy, tending to change the healthy action of the system,
and destroy its delicately and wonderfully balanced opera-
tions, and thus predispose the body to take on disease. The
symptoms of the disease in sheep correspond exactly with
those in the cow and pigs ; but they suflered more severely

Period frofn A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 375

in their feet than the pigs, and equally as much as the cattle,
the hoofs coming off more extensively than in either of the
other two. The disease pursued equally the same course as
in cattle, commencing in their feet.'^

Huntingdonshire.— Mr. Dickens, of Kimbolton, reports :
* The first appearance in my neighbourhood was in February,
1840. The disease kept raging with us until the beginning of
December. A little while after that I had not a case upon
my list. I have had from a thousand to fourteen hundred
patients. I have found it to attack our cattle more or less in
all situations, whether tied up, or in meadows or upland. My
opinion is that it is decidedly contagious. As to infection, I
am yet doubtful. I have observed that store beasts in good
heart bore it best ; very poor stock bore it badly. Old cows
suffered much ; but the greatest danger existed with cows in
full milk, or down calving. . . . There is an opinion amongst
many farmers, backed by some veterinary surgeons and
medical men, that the milk from the diseased cow was the
cause of the disease in pigs. I do not believe that it was thus
to be conveyed. I know an instance of a lot of pigs that were
bought purposely to give the diseased milk to. They were
kept entirely upon it for six weeks, and not one suffered.
No ! They are affected by some external agent. I saw th
fozuls bad with it in one yard — and some died.'-

1 The Mark Lane Express, January 2Sth and Februaiy ist, 1841. Speculatior,
was busy of course at this time as to the cause of the epizooty, and amongst the
many curious reasons put forward was that of Dr. Whitlaw, at the second
anniversary meeting of the Royal Agricultural Society of England in 1840. In
the ' Farmer's Magazine' for that year it is reported that ' Dr. Whitlaw expressed
his opinion on the cause of the late epidemic amongst cattle, and referred to the
writings of Linnseus for corroboration of his views. He declared his full persuasion
of the deleterious nature of the buttercups and other species of ranunculus in
pastures to the cattle feeding on them, attributing to the poisonous properties of
these plants not only the recent epidemic, but all former attacks of the kind,
rendering the animals poor and unwholesome as food. He would, therefore,
recommend to the Society and the public to try the experiment of ploughing up the
old pastures, saturated as they were already with the poisonous exudations of
deleterious weeds. He would also refer to the evil effects of bringing animals to
such a degree of obesity that their fat might be literally termed neither more nor
less than the " essential oil of dung." '
''The Veterinarian, vol. xiv. p. 136.

376 ^i^iory of Animal Plagues.

malady, and gave it to tUe oZ Z tslZlTZ T

mg the yard Three sucking calves also had the disease and
twenty p.gs in the yard. All recovered. When at acked th^

Thfswas thefi r ''^^^ miles south of this town.

bou hood h'^^M-""' -igh,

bourhood March : Nine milch-cows and five fat cows

s a loned ha fa mile apart, were attacked in the same Vi We

as the previous ones. - The pigs in the same yard escaped

These cows never had communication with diseased Tn mals'

not even through the medium of the men who tended "00;

hem. All got well. May: Four heifers were brought horn

m a diseased state from Worcester fair. They had beTn

dnven on the road with other diseased animals, and fed o

LTLt'fiM^- J^-P^^— P^^' June '-Six helfe"
got into a field where there were several others sick with the
•epidemic, and contracted the disease. They gave it to one
b^ seventeen milch-cows, six weaning cL'es, and some
sheep. They were living entirely on grass. The situation
seven miles west of this town, and the weather warm. The
milk thrown away. All recovered. The pigs escaped
August: One milking cow bought of a deale'rtvho had in
his possession other cows ill with the same complaint, gave
It to thirteen other milking cows. From these thirty-four
feeding cows and heifers contracted the disease ; all livinc. on
grass at the time of the attack. The sheep in the same fidds
were not infected. All recovered. December : Seven young
oxen, eleven cows in calf, living on barley straw, were attacked.
Ihey had never been near any diseased animals, nor were the
men who fed them. The weather was cold and frosty AH
recovered. January, 1841 : Two cows in an open field, living
on hay and grass, were affected with this complaint. They
were housed, and communicated it to five milking cows tied

Period fro77t A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 377

up in a shed some distance from them. The same cowherd
fed them all. All got well. All these cases were treated by
me, with many more, perhaps altogether very nearly two
hundred oxen, cows, and ca'lves, not including pigs or sheep.
The disease was very prevalent in this neighbourhood in
December last, among oxen, cows, pigs, and sheep ; and in
addition to my patients more than a hundred cows had. it. . . .
As to the soil and climate, I need only say that the disease
made its appearance all around this town, within a circuit of
seven miles, part of which is in the vale of Evesham. Some
were attacked in the grass fields, others in stalls, and many in
the straw-yards. In some localities the soil was rich and
sandy,- m others there was a red loamy soil. Some were on a
rich and others on a cold clay. ... A healthy ox travelled
along a- road where diseased cows had previously walked. In
three days after the same disease had firm hold of him. . . .
I am decidedly of opinion that this disease is caused by atmo-
spheric agency, and propagated by contagion. Calves sucking
cows that had sore nipples when under the influence of this
malady frequently had the disease, whereas others sucking
healthy teats escaped. ... If the disease is communicated to
the human subject or animals through the medium of the
milk, ' I think that it is where the teats are ulcerated. I
omitted ' to mention that vesicles and abrasions often form on
the nipples of milch-cows : the matter drops from the sores
into the milk-pail, which matter may produce the^ disease
under consideration in the human subject and other animals
by inoculation. . . . Neither condition nor age influence the
progress of the disease. ... I can say nothing about the
post-mortem appearances, not having seen an animal affected
with this complaint after death. I have been informed, from
good authority, that pigs, when killed and eaten, as all fat
ones are as soon as they are perceived to have this complaint
— I certainly could not relish the bacon — have patches of in-
flammation on the skin of the belly, and on the outer coat of
the stomach and intestines ; likewise on the villous coats of
each.'i

^The Veterinarian, vol. xiv. p. 127.

in
in

378 History of Animal Plagues.

GLOUCESTERSHiRE.-The epizooty also appeared here i
the month of February, 1840.^ Mr. Wyett, of Painswick. in
i«43, thought that the epizooty might have been caused by
mildewed turnips or grass, smutty straw, or mouldy hay. 'We
Have the general prevalence during the last two years, in
many parts of the country, of mildew in its several varieties,
with the large quantity of damaged hay, straw, and grain-
lacts to be traced to the extraordinarily wet summer of 1839
... A very respectable and intelligent surgeon, who attends
my own family, informs me (indeed, his case has come under
my own actual observation) that during last November (1842)
he^ had examined a number of cattle labouring under the
epidemic, particularly a horse, whose mouth he opened ; he
did not, however, dissect any. On November 26th he saw
some very bad cases, though he did not on that day touch
them. December ist, he was himself attacked by fever and
general constitutional derangement. On the 4th, inflammation
at the root of the nails, both of the fingers and toes, came on,
which extended to the joints, especially of the fingers. About
three or four days after, suppuration ensued, and he lost two
finger-nails, one on each hand, preserving the rest with great
difficulty. His own impression is that it was the same disease
which is now so general among cattle.'

To this Youatt adds : ' I have now the nail of my left fore-
finger sloughing off from a sore coming into contact with the
diseased mouth of a beast. There was considerable irritative
fever accompanying the case.' 2

Cheshire. — 'An extraordinary account is given by Mr.
Holford, of Northwich. He says that at the beginning of
1840 a cattle-dealer brought several valuable cows suitable
for the dairy from some of the adjoining counties. He brought
them home, not suspecting in the least that anything had
been the matter with them. In a day or two afterwards he
took them to a fair seven miles from Northwich, and, from
the superior appearance of these cows, customers were soon
found for the lot. Of necessity they were driven to various
parts of the country ; but, strange to say, the stock of all the

^ The Veterinarian, vol. xv. p. 445. 2 Ibid.

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 379

parties that bought cattle out of the drover's lot immediately,
or within a day or two, began to have the epidemic. In one
instance it was considered too far to drive the new purchase
home, and the owner ordered her to stop for the night at his
brother-in-law's farm. The consequence was, that this gentle-
man's stock was, in a few days, suffering from the malady.
The disease, for a considerable length of time, was confined to
the parties who purchased of the drover ; but by degrees it
spread fearfully around, and intermediate farms, on which
none of these cattle had been received, seemingly became em-
poisoned, and all the cattle on them became diseased.'^

Lincolnshire.— Mr. T. Darby, Louth, writing on the
31st of January, 1841, reports as follows: 'The disease still
exists in this neighbourhood. As I am situated, I have the
marshes and sea to the east, and the Lincolnshire Wolds west
and south. The soil and pasture are various. Of the first
beasts that I attended, I know nothing of their previous
feeding. The earliest appearance of the epidemic in this
neighbourhood was about the middle of last April. The first
lot of patients that I attended was twelve cows belonging to
W. Loft, Esq., of Grainthorpe, that had been bought of a
jobber a few days before at Caistor fair. They appeared to
be quite well until about two days after they got to their
new home ; they then began to foam at the mouth, and I was
sent for, the messenger saying that he was afraid they were
poisoned. They very soon got over the complaint, and the
weather at this time was very warm. They had been mixed
with other beasts belonging to Mr. Lofts, and the same man
who had attended the sick ones also took care of the others,
some of which very soon showed symptoms of infection.
Two or three days after this I was sent for by a farmer on
the Wolds to inspect his milch-cows, that, according to the
servants' account, had got poison. There were nine of them.
.. . . My opinion is that this malady is infectious. I have
.seen many instances in which diseased beasts have been
driven past healthy ones, and healthy ones travel on the same
road after diseased ones, and in both cases they have so soon

^ The Veterinarian, vol. xv.

3 So History of Animal Plagues.

taken the disease, that I can have no doubt about the infcc-
beasts in a field, with a lot of healthy ones in the adjoining
-On the other hand, .n a few instances, I have known them

' he "sict" Tn"' ^ '^^"^ ^^^^"^--^^ -^^'^

healthv ' ' ^""^ "° d°"bt that the

healthy take the disease from the sick

menced by foaming at the mouth; the eyes, in a great many
cases, partially closed ; the hair erect, with stiffness in the
hind-quarters ; disinclination to move ; the back bowed up •
general costiveness ; great prostration of strength, some of
them scarcely capable of walking. The feet are also diseased
from an early period of the attack. ... The general duration
of the disease has been from six to ten days. I have had
two thousand eight hundred beasts and about seven thousand
sheep, and the result has been a very favourable one. not
losing more than six beasts, with very few sheep indeed ; in
fact the disease, generally speaking, has assumed a mild form
in this neighbourhood. I cannot ascertain the number of
diseased animals in the country around, but I do not think
the general result has been very serious. Great alteration took
place in the milk of some; in others there was scarcely any.
In some it was quite putrid ; others have yielded nothing but
a Avhey-hke fluid, and in a few it has been mixed with blood.'^
Mr. Youatt has collected a large number of reports from
other parts of this county, where the malady prevailed from
Its appearance there in April, 1840, till November. 1841 :

' Mr. Hutton, of Gate Barton, near Gainsborough, says that
the epidemic of 1841 prevailed in all the farms adjoining to
his, and among some yearling heifers, and spread through all
his cattle excepting four, and nearly all his sheep and pigs. It
first appeared during the fine weather in October. A com-
munication probably took place between his cattle and some
diseased ones, for a road very much frequented by drovers
was close by the field containing his sheep. This is the only

^ The Veterinaiiaii, vol. xiv. p. 131.

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 381

cause to which he can trace the disease, for his cattle had
never been off his farm. They were yearling heifers, in good
condition for breeding. These were first attacked, and the
disease afterwards gradually spread to all the others. They
were all affected in the mouth, and more than half of them in
the foot. In sheep and pigs it was most prevalent in the feet;
in cattle, in the mouth. . . . Out of seventy beasts of all ages,
he lost a yearling steer that was much affected in the head
and eyes, and a sucking calf about ten days old. Out of
two hundred ewes he lost four, and out of two hundred lamb-
hogs five ; out of two hundred ram-hogs, none ; out of a litter
of eight pigs seven weeks old, four ; and out of twelve older
pigs, nine. The milk invariably diminished for a time. In
some it ceased altogether, but in the greater part it returned.
Pregnant females were not exempt from the disease ; there
was no case of abortion. One calf exhibited the disease at a
week old, and died in three days. The sheep were generally
left very weak, and particularly the lamb-hogs. Among the
cattle the milch-cows suffered most, and the feeding bullocks
the least. The cattle got clear of it about Christmas, and the
sheep could not be considered as recovered for a considerable
period afterwards.

' Mr. H. Grantham, of Glandford Bridge, states that when
the epidemic first appeared on his farm, only one ox was
affected by it, in the first week in September. There were
three other beasts in the same field, none of which had it.
The disease returned in the beginning of November, and every
beast, with' the exception of one, was affected. They were
then taken into a straw-yard, and all the pigs caught the dis-
temper. Three of them died. When the disease appeared
the second time, the cows had been driven into the village to
milk, and might have met with other cattle. They first began
to slaver ; then the tongue swelled ; and the whole of the
mouth, and frequently the throat, became so sore that a por-
tion of the skin came off. None of his cattle had sore feet,
but the sheep were exceedingly bad in their feet, and con-
tinued to be so. None of them died. Nine of the milch-cows
had the distemper, and a great many of the cattle belonging

382

History of Anmtal Plagues.

to the cottagers. A calf that sucked an infected cow had the
disease.

' Mr. J. West, of Melton Ross, near Glandford Bridge, had
his cattle first attacked after they came into the fold in
November, and it afterwards extended to every other kind of
stock. He bought a hundred head of horned cattle at Caistor
Michaelmas fair, which had been travelling for a fortnight
before, and had no symptoms of the epidemic until a month
afterwards. They had been kept on straw^ for a fortnight
prior to the attack. Both cattle and sheep were affected.
The horned cattle were not in the least diseased in the feet,
but some of the sheep were in worse condition than when
they were placed on turnips in Michaelmas. None of them
have been affected a second time. The udders of the cows
were soon diseased, and the milk could not be used for a
month. The horned cattle were all spotted over like leopards
after the complaint left them. They were not much reduced,
but the sheep suffered greatly in their feet. Mr. West says :
" We are about to begin the lambing season, and the ewes are
every day breaking down. The consequence of this, I fear,
will be a small show of lambs and great losses in the ewes."
The wool was bad in quality and short in quantity. The
epidemic continued for a long period, and particularly among
the sheep. — Mr. H. L. Maws, of Crowle, near Bawtry, says
that, " about the middle of October, 1841, he first became
aware of this disease among his cattle ; but two out of a litter
of pigs died, and he was doubtful whether it was not from this
distemper. With this exception it confined itself, at that time,
to the cattle." The weather had been clear previous to the
cattle being really attacked. It afterwards became damp.
Mr. Maws's cattle became infected by a tenant of Lord
Manvers, who occupies some land of his lordship's adjoining
his, by putting diseased cattle that had been some time
affected with distemper in an adjoining close, without giving
notice that he was about to do so, and so put people on
their guard. An old high hedge and ditch separated these
closes. The cattle which had infected Mr. Maws's caught the
infection at Epworth fair. Most of the cattle were at grass,

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 383.

and in severe weather were all housed at night. All ages
appeared to take the disease, but perhaps some very young
calves were least liable. . . . The disease first and mostly
appeared in the mouth, but also in the feet, although not to
the same extent. . . . We threw away all the milk until the
cows were quite clear of the distemper, and most of them
gave very little milk afterwards. ... I understand that
several mares in this neighbourhood have slipped their foals,
and I am now very much inclined to think that there is some
connection between their doing so and the cattle epidemic.
. . . The epidemic lasted about five or six weeks, most of the
cattle being ill three or four days before we were aware of the
precise nature of the ailment.

' The bailiff of the Hon. C. Dymoke transmitted an interest-
ing account of the epidemic. On the 28th of August, 1840,
it commenced among a hundred head of cattle in Scrivelsby
Coast Park, near Horncastle. In September it broke out among
the sheep, the deer, the pigs, the poultry, and tht young horses.
The situation was well screened with wood, but rather damp.
The cattle were out at grass, in good condition, of all ages,
and might have taken the disease from cattle passing along
the road. White bladders appeared in the mouth, and the
feet were affected on the following day.^ In many cases the
disease began to die away, but reappeared in the course of a
few days. The first attack was exceedingly severe, but the
second was of a milder character. They were fed on hay
during their illness, for during the first week or ten days the
tongue was in a dreadfully inflamed state. . . . One three-
year-old colt was lost, but no other stock. Many of the cows
lost their milk for a week, but it returned as usual. The milk
of the diseased was sometimes given to the calves, and no
harm followed. " It was very prevalent in the farms in our
neighbourhood in the July of the second year, and violent in
its attack. Many of the ewes lost their lambs, casting them
before the proper time." In September, 1840, the deer were
much affected by this disease. They were lame and weak.
Nothing, however, was done to them, and they all recovered.
' The cows of H. B. Benson, Esq., Utterly House, near Louth,

384 History of Animal Plagues.

on the 13th of November, 1840, first showed symptoms of the
epidemic, which extended to calves and other stock, with the
exception of a bull and two heifers suckling their calves The
full-grown cattle appeared to suffer most. The disease first
appeared in the mouth, and only three out of thirty of the
cows were affected in the feet. None were affected a second
time.

' The disease began among the cows belonging to J. Harries
Esq., Thorganby Hall, North Lincoln, in October, 1840 In
November it attacked some Scotch bullocks, and extended to
the sheep and pigs about the middle of December. The
weather was rainy, with south and south-west winds. ' They
had not travelled on any public road, but they were out of
doors, in good condition, and living on grass. The sheep
were not attacked until they were put on turnips. The cattle
were all three-year-old beasts. The first symptom of disease
was a discharge of saliva from the mouth— the back forming
the segment of a circle, and there being lameness in both
feet. It is very difficult for a non-medical person to dis-
tinguish between a second attack of disease and a relapse
from an advanced stage of recovery ; but Mr. Harries
imagines that there were many cases of sheep in his flock
being affected a second time, and that with unusual severity.
No beasts died, but about forty sheep out of a thousand were
lost. They died very lean, but not generally discoloured.
The cows had the disease in a mitigated form. For some
time the milk diminished or could not be used. A flock of
ewes in lamb, that were sent to turnips on the farm, suffered

very considerably from abortion At the time of writing

this, February 22, 1841, it still rages at Thorganby as violently
as ever. At Elkington it has disappeared, leaving many
sheep very lame. The beasts at Thorganby recovered soon
after Christmas. The few cows at Elkington, giving milk,
have suffered, and still suffer much. Their udders inflame,
and suppurate, and break, and spoil them for many weeks, so
far as milking is concerned. — Two cases from Spilsbury and
its neighbourhood are considerably interesting. The first
belongs to Mr. W. B. Wingate, of Hareby, near Bolingbroke.

1

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840, 385

At the latter end of August, 1841, the disease appeared among
the shearling ewes that had been removed from other parts
of the farm, and which extended with more or less virulence
to all kinds of stock kept on a breeding farm, except the
cart-horses. His sheep had been on the farm with the other
stock, but there was no chance of being affected by others.
It was the same with young and full-grown cattle. The
symptoms were, excessive fever in the mouth, with lameness,
and frequent gathering in the feet. A great number, both
among sheep and cattle, were infected, and many of them a
second time, but with less virulence. — The cattle of G. Bourne,
Esq., of Hocton, near Spilsby, were attacked by the epidemic
in May, 1840. He was driving some half-bred oxen from the
place where they had been tied in stalls all the winter. The
weather was very hot, and the roads freshly laid at that time.
They were kept apart from the others, and no other cattle
had the disease. His were the first beasts that were attacked
in that neighbourhood. They were four years old. Before
they reached the termination of their journey they were
crippled in all their feet, and had sore mouths. Not an
animal, however— sheep or cattle— was lost, nor any of the
horses or cows seriously ill.— Mr. C. Hill, of Winceley, near
Horncastle, living on a hilly ground. A heifer calf was

■ bought by him, and soon exhibited symptoms of the prevalent
' disease. It spread among the cattle and sheep, and the

mouths and feet became diseased. No disease occurred to

■ the horses, although they fed with the cattle during the whole
of the time. The sheep continued lame for a considerable

; period after the cattle were all well.— Mr. Bentley, of Clay
Bridge, near Lincoln, says that the disease broke out among

! his cattle on the 28th of September, 1840 In three

; cases it appeared a second time. The first attack of the
disease was particularly severe. — F. Robinson, Esq., of
Frampton, near Boston, says that the disease first appeared
I in two beasts which he bought on April 24th, 1840. They
1 were ill of the complaint as soon as he got them home. This
\ was probably caused by the hot and dry weather which then
' prevailed. It was a long time before they recovered. The

25

386

History of Animal Plagues.

sheep in the same pasture were not afifected. The feet were
first affected, and then the mouth. It became much more
serious in the sheep than in the cattle. The milk was usually-
suspended, or thrown away for about ten days, and was then
as good and as much as ever. It was once given to some
pigs, and all of them became diseased. The sheep became
diseased on the 24th of December. They still remain very
lame, and, whenever there is frost without snow, it so cripples
them that they become worse again, and those who have not
previously had it keep falling. — Mr. R. Green, of Skillington,
near Grantham, says that the epidemic first appeared in the
second week in April, 1840, among some cattle of the steer
kind, in the straw-yard, and afterwards the swine in the same
yard, and ultimately among the sheep. They had been driven
to a fair at Grantham, about eight miles, but returned unsold.
The epidemic made its appearance the third day after. Not
a single case had been previously heard of in the neighbour-
hood, and they were quite well before they were taken to the
fair. They had travelled along a public road, and had like-
wise stood intermixed with other cattle The disease

commenced in the mouth, but soon afterwards extended to

the feet. They were chiefly of the heifer breed Some

of the cattle had cutaneous eruptions about their legs, and
nearly the whole became lousy after their recovery. Those
who had it mildly throve well afterwards, but the epidemic
gradually spread through the whole of the flock, and remained
about a month. Mr. Green had two farms about ten miles
distant from each other. The cattle on the farm in which he
resided escaped it until the autumn, but all had it afterwards,
and generally in a milder form, except some that he had
purchased, which had been driven, and probably caught cold
as well as the disease. The total number that had it in both
places was about seventy. Those at his residence had not
been intermixed or very near to any that had the complaint,
until after it broke out, as he refrained from buying in. With
regard to his sheep, who had all, or very nearly so, been
diseased, he considered the complaint to have made great
havoc, not particularly in their absolute dying, but in losmg

Period fro7n A,D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 387

their flesh. A great many that were fat became quite lean,
and so lame that it will be a long time before they recover,
and this will not be until their hoofs are replaced by new
ones. He has had about eight hundred affected by it. — 'Mr.
Beasley, near Grantham, had a herd of cattle in good store
condition, feeding on grass only. All were attacked by this
disease, soreness of the mouth, and stiffness of the joints. It
invariably showed itself first in the mouth, and none of the
cattle were affected a second time. He lost but one out of
eighty. The milk diminished in quantity, and was useless at
the time, but in all cases returned. One calf had it so badly
from a diseased mother, that he despaired of saving it for
some time. None of the cows altogether escaped the disease.
The steers were not attacked until they came into the yards
in autumn. — Mr. B. Millington, of Asgaiby, near Sleaford,
lives on a dry and moderately wooded farm, with a heavy
loam subsoil. Some infected cattle had passed along the
road. His cattle were in good store condition. Ninety-two
of them were diseased, and one only escaped. He was two
years old, and the others from one month to twelve years.
They were generally attacked in the feet first. This is not
usually the case, but was so in the present instance. All of
them were affected except the sucking calves, but none had
the disease a second time. The sheep and cattle of some of
his neighbours, however, did not escape the second attack.
. . . . Generally speaking, the disease was severe in pro-
portion to the age of the beast. Not one of his whole stock
was lost. The milk, which in most of them was diminished
in quantity, returned, but not in its full quantity. Abortion
was sadly frequent. Out of nineteen cows, five aborted at
about nineteen weeks. The nostrils and mouths of the calves
were occasionally very sore. The epidemic disappeared as to
cattle in September, but continued occasionally to show itself
through December. The reason why he had so many bad
in so short a time, was that he turned them out together for the
purpose of their having it, and becoming stronger for winter.
— Mr. J. Snow, Evendon, states that it appeared in July, 1840,
beginning with an aged bull, and running through the whole

25 — 2

388

History of Animal Plagues.

of his feeding stock. They were affected in the mouth and
feet, and in both at the same time. Three or four had it a
second time, but under a mitigated form. The first attack
was always the severest. The quantity of milk was greatly
diminished, even when the udder did not appear to be affected.
The calves, when weaning, were affected at all ages, and the
whole of the calves when sucking infected cows.'^

Essex.— Mr. Wallis, of Halstead, reports : ' It has prevailed
here in all situations, on almost every variety of soil, pasture,
and previous feeding. It began in May. I had, however, one
case in "March. It is both infectious and contagious. As to
the former, in one yard it began with the milch-cows, and
spread through all the stock, save the horses, which I have
not yet known to take the disease. Now, the bullocks that
were here tied up in the house could have no communication,
but through the air, with the other cattle which were in the
yard adjoining. In the cows, the head was chiefly and alone
affected ; while in the bullocks tied up the feet were primarily
and throughout the seat of the disease. The mouths, however,
were sore. I could adduce many such instances. It seems
that the air does not carry the infection to any great distance
— at least in all directions. It has been very common that
cattle on an adjoining farm, separated only by a distance of a
few rods, escape. One instance I specially refer to, where a
dozen bullocks, tied up in the house, were attacked, and within
fifty rods were large quantities of stock, and not one took the
disease till within the last month, constituting an interval of
six months. The disease has been frequently carried from
one yard to another by driving cows to a bull, on one side or
the other. Those which are tied, as well as those compelled
to travel on the road, have generally suffered most with the
feet ; while such as have been running loose in a yard have
been rarely so affected. As to its being contagious, I have
little more to say that can be considered to bear upon this
point, viz., its uniformly spreading through all the stock placed
within a certain limit ; the uniformity of the symptoms
developed in those placed in contact with each other and in
1 The Veterinarian, vol. xvi. p. 570.

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 389

like circumstances ; and, lastly, I would mention that, on one
or two individuals in this neighbourhood having had their
hands abraded in salting the mouths of the animals, small
pustules have formed on the arms and face. . . . Two died in
the early part of the summer, being the first that had the dis-
ease here (except one, as I have already stated, that was
attacked in March). They had been ill several days before I
saw them. The post-mortem appearances closely resembled
those presented in animals that have died under bronchitis.
The bronchial tubes were filled with frothy mucus, and the
poor beasts died from suffocation. In these cases the primary
symptoms became aggravated, the tongue assumed a gan-
grenous appearance, the breath was very offensive, the
respiration became very laborious, and then followed exhaus-
tion, suffocation, and death. Three hundred were affected, as
nearly as I can calculate. Two deaths : in the neighbour-
hood many hundreds, if not thousands, have been ill ; few
deaths. With regard to a recurrence of the disease, it has
not been observed in any case. The cow already mentioned
as having had the disease in March was then and for some
time after alone ; but during the summer the owner bought
in more stock, and these have lately been attacked; but
although the cow has been constantly with them she has
escaped.'

Nottinghamshire.— Mr. Hutchinson, of East Retford,
sends the following account :— ' July 7th, 1840 : Mr. Gamston
had seven milk-cows. The first of them was affected on this
day, and the others were ill on the third day. I found them
with a large quantity of saliva hanging about the lips, and they
were constantly champing with a peculiar sucking sound,' etc.
' These cows had been running in a field next to the Great
North road, and possibly they might have come in contact
with some diseased animals passing thereon. The pigs in the
yard exhibited the same complaint on the second day after
the cows. July 8th : Mr. Mar.sden Morton had twelve young
bullocks and heifers, nine of which became affected ; the other
three escaped, although running in the same field. . . . They

The Veterinarian, vol. xiv. p. 79.

390

History of Animal Plagues.

had been running on a piece of forest land, by the side of
which was a road, and a quantity of very lame sheep, going
to Rotherham market, had passed a few days previously.
28th : Eight milking-cows upon the same farm are affected.
August 1st : Mr. Gyles, Treswell, had three cows affected.
One was rearing a valuable calf The calf was removed into
a shed by itself. The cows in four days recovered by the
treatment as before. The calf became suddenly unwell on
the 1 2th, but soon recovered. September 27th : Twenty-nine
Irish cows, belonging to the same farmer, were running in
some marsh land at Treswell. Twenty-two of them became
affected and lame. October 7th : Five milk cows at Eaton,
belonging to separate cottagers, are bad and lame. At
Ollerton nine heifers are affected. October 22nd : Twenty-
two heifers are grazing in some low meadow land at Clay-
worth ; three only received the disease. I removed them
into a separate pasture for a few days. 30th : Thirty-six
animals, viz., six milk cows, eight feeding bullocks, and the
remainder straw-yard beasts, are bad at Hodseek. The
disease first appeared amongst the bullocks, and in three days
had extended to the others. Mr. G., Ollerton, had twenty-
two straw-yard and four milk beasts affected. November 7th :
Two milk cows, belonging to Mr. Bower, Retford, are in a
field by themselves ; one only is bad. 13th : Two milch-cows
at Retford are both bad and lame. The pigs in the sty are
bad. 27th : Four milch-cows on the same farm are bad.
November 4th : Mr. Bebnorth bought a heifer about ten days
ago. She has had the epidemic, and her teats are now very
sore. This day several pigs were perceived to be lame in the
fold-yard. November 19th: This day the disease made its
appearance amongst the cattle ; eight bullocks are bad. The
yard contains about fifty feeding and straw beasts and twenty
milk-cows, all of which have been affected, except seven at
straw. Some of them are very lame, after being attacked
from thirty to forty hours. December 21st : Mr. G., Ollerton,
bought fourteen young heifers from a jobber ; they had
travelled some distance, and had had the disease previously.
I saw them to-day. They can eat as well as any other stock,

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 391

but are excessively lame. Two of them have lost a hoof from
the hind feet, and the horny sole is completely separated in
nine of the others. December 21st: Four milk-cows, near
Allerton, have the epidemic ; they have been treated by the
owner. Three of them are now bad from mammitis, and I
think they will lose one-quarter each, if not more. December
22nd : Mr. G. Hedbrey had nine milch-cows ill, but they soon
recovered. Some young stock became affected, and at the
present time his milch-cows are again suffering from the dis-
ease. This is the only case I have known where the same
animals have been twice affected. ... In many cases they
travelled along roads on which infected animals had travelled,
and thereby received the infection. ... I am perfectly satisfied
that, where the disease has made its appearance, it becomes
highly infectious. ... I think the disease is not only in-
fectious to the same species, but even an infected animal,
such as the cow, has the property of giving the disease to the
sheep or pig, and vice versa.' ^

Lancashire. — Mr. Hayes, Rochdale, reports in March
1841 : ' We have been visited by this strange and little-known
disease. Although it has not been fatal, except in a few in-
stances, yet it has been the source of much trouble, annoyance,
and expense to cattle-keepers. It first made its appearance
in this district in the beginning of July last, at a farm two
miles from this place. The whole stock, seventeen cows and
a bull, were affected in the space of six days. . . . The weather,
previously very dry, had now changed to wet. There had
been works lately erected for the manufacture of naphtha on
one part of the land, the refuse of which was allowed to run
down the ditches through the pasture, and into the pond at
which the whole of these cattle were watered, and which water
was covered with a thick black scum, very foetid, that came
down from the works in great quantities. This was first
thought to be the cause of the disease by the owner, and also
by the cow-doctor of olden times, and the proprietors of the
works were threatened with an action at law against them
forthwith ; but before proceedings commenced, the owners'

1 The Veterinarian, vol. xv. p. 565.

.392

History of Animal Plagues.

attorney called on me. . . . Few districts escaped, yet there
are two townships near here where not a single case has ap-
peared for a long time. The farmers in these parts determined
not to buy any fresh stock until the disease had subsided, and
so far they have been successful. ... It raged from the be-
ginning of September to December. The state of the weather
was the two extremes of dry and wet at intervals, but princi-
pally wet and foggy. By the strictest inquiry I cannot find
one dairy in which I am not able to trace the seeds to either
a fresh cow, pig, or sheep, or the contact of servants, or the
master himself having been in contact with diseased animals.
In one large dairy the owner took every precaution to keep
his stock free ; but it soon broke out amongst them, and
twenty-four were affected in one or two days. He was quite
astonished, and thought nothing could have carried the
disease to his cattle ; but on my questioning the herdsman,
he acknowledged he had several times visited and examined
affected cattle in the neighbourhood. As the public roads are
very numerous in this district, and very much frequented by
dealers in cattle, pigs, and sheep, between the northern and
midland counties, for the supply of Manchester and other
markets, and also from Ireland, nearly all the farmers, etc., are
compelled to make use of these roads, and consequently did
come in contact with infected animals. I have found in
general, that the servants or other persons have come in con-
tact with other neighbours' infected stock previous to their
own becoming diseased. I am of opinion that it is carried or
communicated from one animal to another by contact, either
actual or conveyed by some intervening body in some shape
or other, and not by atmospheric influence ; for I have known
many cows that have been bought during the last eight months
from farmers whose stock had not been affected, nor have
been so since, yet these cows, after being tied up in stalls
where diseased ones had stood before, on the next morning
had their feet affected, and on the next day their mouths ;
and in a day or two after this the disease was fully developed.
Yet the remainder of the stocks whence these cows came have
until now remained quite free — a period of four months. I

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 593

also know several farmers who have not allowed anyperson con-
nected with their cattle to go near the stock of another farnaer
where they knew the stock to be or to have been affected,
nor any other person to come amongst theirs ; and certainly,
all who took such rigid precaution have escaped this pestilence.

' The earliest symptoms I observed were : A staring coat,
with a rheumatic stiffness, and soreness of the whole frame ;
a painful and stiff, unwilling gait, with much shaking of the
feet. In a few hours they began to shuffle about in the stall ;
about twelve hours after this, champing of the mouth appeared,
with sucking of the lips ; a ropy, tenacious, slimy saliva con-
stantly pouring from the mouth ; perhaps in another twelve
hours the disease was fully established. After the above
symptoms the posterior portion of the heels begin to look
very red with inflammation between the clefts of the feet and
all round the coi'onets. In twenty-four hours there were
separation of the integuments and ulceration, the parts being
very tender and painful. Soon after, or already, vesication
appeared on the upper gums, the tongue, lips, and sometimes
the nose, and which seemed to take the same course as those
on the feet ; and I have observed, in many cases, these vesicles
extended to the larynx, and down the oesophagus. These I
have seen in cases of post-mortem examination at the butchei-'s,
etc. This is the cause of the difficulty in swallowing which
we sometimes see. The teats now begin to be affected with
the same kind of vesicles, and are a source of great evil, as,
from the pain and difficulty there is in milking, garget or in-
flammation of the udder frequently ensues. In many cases
the disease terminated in congestion either of some of the in-
ternal viscera, or some external part. Frequently, near the
udder, hip, stifle, knees, and other joints, it appears in the
shape of large indolent tumours, which, on an incision being
made into them, are found to contain nothing but coagulated
blood in great quantities, and much blacker than usual.
The number in this neighbourhood, as near as I can ascer-
tain, attacked by this disease, was about four hundred or
upwards.'!

' The Veterinarian, vol. xiv. p. 193.

394

History of Animal Plagues.

Mr. Dawber, Liverpool, in July, 1841, describes some cases
as occurring there, but unfortunately he gives no dates.^ It
must have been present in this part of Lancashire at an early
period, however, for we are told that on the Sth of January,
1 841, ' in the Royal Physical Society, Mr. Kirkham, of Liver-
pool, read a paper " On the Disease at present raging among
Cattle," of which the following is an abstract : It affects oxen,
sheep, and pigs, and is nothing more than a sort of slight in-
fluenza. . . . An interesting conversation ensued, in which
Mr. Dick expressed concurrence in the facts stated by Mr.
Kirkham. The result of the discussion may be summed up
in the following manner: i. The disease is much more general
than is supposed. At one time about one-half of all the cattle
were ill at once, and not more than about one in ten has
escaped. 2. The disease is less dangerous than is generally
supposed. 3. Neither the flesh nor the milk are in the
slightest degree affected. 4. For two years the disease has
been travelling westward through the Continent. It then
came to Britain on the eastern coasts. It has notv nearly dis-
appeared from the east, and is raging with considerable violence
in the west. It thus appears to be following the same course
as the cholera took, although the disease bears no similarity
to it.'2

Yorkshire, North Riding.— Mr. Holmes, Thirsk, in
January, 1841, writes : ' The first time that the epidemic made
its appearance in this immediate neighbourhood was about the
middle of last June, when it manifested itself among two or
three herds, and was, to the best of my belief, confined to
them alone. The symptoms were but slight ; there was
lameness, accompanied by a little frothing at the mouth, but
no breaking out at the feet. Nothing further was heard of
the disorder, as regards its spreading, until about a month
afterwards, or the i8th of July following, at which time a fair
was held at the village of Sopclifie, about five miles south-
west of this place, where it showed all its baneful symptoms
among some lots of Irish stock that were at the fair. These

The Veterinarian, vol. xiv. p. 420.
"The London and Edinburgh Monthly Journal, 1841, p. 43.

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 395

Irish stock have, by common consent, been considered as the
introducers of the epidemic into the Yorkshire Ridings ; and
from that period to the present the contagion has, more or
less, been rapidly spreading through every park and pasture
in the three Ridings. Such were the first effects that a com-
plete and total stagnation of the sale of any kind of Irish-bred
stock took place ; for buyers of such were about as scarce as
Queen Anne's farthings. . . . From the number of cases that
I have professionally attended and casually heard of and seen,
no state or condition, no situation or locality, has protected the
poor cattle from the sickening hand of the insidious foe. . . .
The general symptoms that I have observed since the first
appearance of the epidemic are a staring coat, the eyes a little
sunken in the orbit of the head, large blisters arising on the
base of the tongue, and containing a white kind of serous fluid,
and the blisters sometimes extending from the base to the tip
of the tongue ; the front teeth of some very loose, a great dis-
charge of saliva from the mouth, and, in bad cases, a jelly-like
fluid instead of saliva ; tenderness on the skin and back when
touched, so much so, that a common observer would say that
some one had been beating them severely with a stick ; and,
if compelled to walk, they appeared as if walking on stilts.
They very much resembled a horse labouring under an attack
of laminitis. ... It does not seem to me that one organ
alone is attacked, but every organ, more or less. The mucous
membranes appear to be particularly so. I have sometimes
gone into a field among a number of stock, and have pointed
out some as the next most likely to be invalided. They did
not then either evince lameness or show any discharge from
the mouth, yet their apparently starved and chilly looks con-
vinced me that they were infected, and the correctness of my
judgment was not long in doubt, for all the other symptoms
shortly afterwards rapidly developed themselves. Some would
be quietly chewing the cud in an apparently good state of
health, and yet scarcely half an hour afterwards would show
all the peculiar characteristic features of the complaint. . . .
A friend of mine gave me a long and elaborate account of its

396

History of Animal Plagues.

commencing in Spahi^ in 1838, and proceeding thence to
Switzerland, Hungary, Bohemia, Prussia, Holland, Belgium,
France, and then to England. The prevailing symptoms in
those countries were in many instances of a similar character
to those attendant upon the disease in this country; but
sometimes they were considerably more intense and fatal. I
believe the disease showed itself with a greater degree of
virulence in Holland than in any other country. It also
seems to have passed from P>ance by means of the Channel
intercourse into the southern counties, and so along by the
western " districts, until every district has been more or less
visited. A wet and damp state of atmosphere seems to favour
the disease, while a clear frost appears to operate reversely.
A week's continuance of clear frosty weather almost cleared
us of the nuisance, when a return of moist and warm weather
again rapidly multiplied new cases. As yet I have not heard
of or seen a second attack. That the disease is contagious
there is not the least doubt ; for no sooner has an infected
beast been driven near or .associated with others than they
have speedily shown symptoms of bodily ailment. I have
also known it appear among stock that had for months no
visible direct communication with the infected, nor even with
other cattle, and among others that had never been nearer
strange stock than having been pastured in a roadside field,
where the infected might probably pass. As soon as the dis-
ease made its appearance upon a farm, it spread like wildfire
over most or all of the adjoining ones ; and yet, at the same
time, there was no apparently direct communication with the
infected, and which were also generally removed, as soon as
the disease was observed, to a place where the others could
not possibly have any access. From this probably may be,
deduced a not very unreasonable inference, viz., that in the]
present case, as in human ills, there seems to be an atmo-.
spheric agent wafting abroad the effluvia or seeds of disease \
and death. I have seen a whole fold of pigs take the disease

^ This may be a mistake. There are no records, so far as I am aware, to prove
that Spain was invaded by the epizooty. As before noticed, that country, for
obvious reasons, had enjoyed a wonderful immunity.

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 397

before it was in the least manifested among other stock. The
symptoms in pigs were very much the same as with beasts or
horned cattle. The disease among pigs has not been so very
fatal here as more northward, where several farmers have lost
their whole stock. Sheep appear to me to have suffered much
more considerably than cattle. I have recently heard of a
person near York, who lost eleven young calves about one
day or so after calving ; of another who lost four ; and a third
who lost six in the same way. All the cows had the disease
previous to calving, but had recovered before the dropping of
. the calf. ... I have seen the milk of a cow that had the
epidemic curdle when boiled ; in others not the slightest
difference was apparently observable. I have heard of a few
individuals who evinced symptoms something similar to what
animals in the epidemic showed, from partaking of the milk ;
and I know others who partook of the same with impunity.
The difference seems to me to consist in the predisposition
of the constitution of the individuals to the disease, as well as
the severity of the disorder of the animal from whom the milk
is drawn. For my own part, I have generally recommended
that the milk of such cows as were infected should not be
used until five or six days after convalescence, when the
healthy quality of the milk will have returned. I have known
pigs show symptoms of the disease ten hours after taking the
infected milk. I have also known it given to cats and dogs
who experienced not the slightest visible ill effect. To a foal
of mine, the milk of infected cows was given for about a week,
and no bad result was afterwards in any degree exhibited.'^

' Upleatham, in the North Riding of Yorkshire, about two
miles from the sea, is the property of the Earl of Zetland.
It is a hilly country. The soil is high and dry, with the
substratum a sandy rock. The cattle, in the pasture where it
made its first appearance, had not been connected with any
others for a period of three months. It broke out suddenly,
when it was previously not known within twenty miles of
the place, and no cause apparently indicated or suspected.
The first beast that was infected was a two-year-old steer,

1 The Veterinarian, vol. xiv. p. 87.

398

History of Animal Plasties.

and it extended to others of the same age or older, and also
to a cow that was not in the adjoining pasture. Those that
were fully grown were most liable to be attacked. The first
appearance of the disease was generally in the mouth, but
there was some tenderness of the feet at the same time.
None of the animals were affected a second time. The
secretion of milk was always more or less suspended, and

was generally intermixed with purulent matter Shortly

after the disease in the cattle, three or four horses were
affected. There were enlargements about the throat, which
it was -necessary to open, and which sometimes extended to
the legs and feet'

' Mr. Rutson, of Kirby-Wicke, says his cattle had no direct
communication with any others, but were near a public road.

The disease first appeared in a heifer out of doors One

of his tenants, with cattle of all ages, had a two-year-old bull
the most severely affected of the whole. None of his cattle

were affected a second time In many places it occurred

suddenly, and without any assignable cause. Some of his
cattle, after having been tied up six weeks without any
previous indication of mischief, failed.'

' In other cases attempts were made to communicate the
disease both to cattle and sheep, particularly to some cows
in calf, by putting them together, and also by the food that
had been placed before diseased cattle being given to them.
He had some black-faced sheep three months, that were
selected from a lot bought from a northern fair ; they were
driven home, and not a single individual became ill, but the
remainder fell amiss the very day after they were selected.'

' Mr. Booth, of Killerby, Catterick, had his share of the
disease. There was no possible communication with other
cattle. About a fourth of the number were out of doors — the
rest housed. The frost was severe, but the animals were in
good condition, and were fed on turnips and straw. The
disease commenced with the young cattle, after which it

spread indiscriminately No deaths occurred. When

the udder was not affected, the milk generally returned in its
usual quantity ; but when the udder had been diseased or

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 399

ulcerated, the flow of milk sometimes ceased altogether.
Abortion in one case followed the disease. The malady has
not appeared in the feet of suckling animals, nor were there
any cutaneous eruptions before or after the disease.'

' Mr. Levers, of Richmond, gives the following account of
the disease : " The epidemic first made its appearance among
my cattle in August, 1840, and was for some time confined to
a particular pasture, which was stinted with fat cattle and
sheep, and at that time quite ready for the butcher . . . .
Subsequent to that, the whole of my cattle and sheep became
affected, which numbered about seventy head of cattle, and
three hundred sheep. What was rather singular, I never
directly lost any one animal, but indirectly I have been a
great sufferer : ist. From loss of condition, after which it
required some months to get the animals into the same state
as when they were first attacked. 2ndly. From my cows
calving prematurely. I had twenty-three that did so in suc-
cession, and a very serious loss among my sheep in a similar

way I had a great number of both cattle and sheep

that lost their hoofs." '

' Mr. Bates related : " I have only had one case, a cow ; but
the epidemic has prevailed in my neighbourhood, and adjoin-
ing my farm. It appeared on the 26th day of October, 1840,
in the parish of Kirkleavington, near Yarm, in the North
Riding of Yorkshire. My cattle had not been in communi-
cation with any others. This cow, and about twenty more,
travelled along a turnpike road, between their pasture and
the cow-shed, where they were milked twice a day. On the
19th of October there was a large fair at Yarm, two miles
from hence. Many diseased cattle were at the fair ; and, as
a precaution, we laid lime upon that part of the road where
they crossed from their pasture to come to the cow-houses,
and did not, for a month after the fair, drive the cows along
the road, as previously had been done for nearly a quarter of
a mile in length, four times a day. The cow was at grass,

having calved on October 2nd, previously When

brought out of the field to milk, before five o'clock in the
morning, she was not perceived to be unwell ; but when she

400

History of Animal Plagues.

returned to the field a glairy fluid was observed to run from
her mouth among the grass, which she was unable to bite.
She was brought into the house immediately, separate from
all other cattle, and there tied up, and kept for thirty-six days.
. . . . On opening her mouth the inflammation was evidently
very great, affecting her tongue, etc., etc. ; in three days her
feet became affected, and she was very lame for three days
afterwards. There has been no return of the disorder either

in this cow or any other I attribute the speedy recovery

of this cow to the close attention paid to her, and they who
went to see her never came near any other of the cattle.
This precaution, and keeping the cow secluded, was the cause
of its not spreading among my herd. In all cases near me it
went through the whole herd. The disorder, somewhat
abated, is yet said to exist in the district."'^

West Riding. — 'The tenants and neighbours of Joseph
Dent, Esq., of Ribston Hall, had their cattle and some sheep
affected six months before his, on account of his having as
little as possible intercourse with them. The first appearance
in his farm and among his fat cattle was in the latter end of
November. It extended to the milch-cows, all of which were
housed. It then attacked the young stock in the farmyard,
and lastly was observed in the heifers and cattle in the
adjoining fields. The fat cattle and the milch-cows were first
attacked by soreness in the feet, and refusing their food ;
those out of doors were then affected in their mouths. The
fat cattle suffered very little, but the milch-cows more ; and
on account of the weather being exceedingly severe, and
there not being an opportunity for shelter, the outdoor cattle

suffered most of all The udders and teats were sore.

None of the young calves living upon the milk of the infected
cows took the disorder ; the plan was adopted of serving from
the pail, and not allowing them to go near the cows to suck.
Some had a scurfy eruption on different parts of their body
and round the eyes; but this is sometimes seen in young
cattle.'

'According to John Barrowly, of Baldersby, the disease

1 The Veterinarian, vol. xvi. p. 274.

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 401

began to appear among the hogs and cattle in the fold-yard,
and in the first week in January, 1841, it had spread to nearly
all the sheep and cattle. It was distinguished by slavering
in the cattle, lameness of the feet of pigs, and lameness and
slavering in sheep. . . . The epidemic long remained among
the pigs and sheep, and at length attacked the horses.'

' J. W. Childers, Esq., M.P., of Cantley, states that " the
epidemic first appeared in his stock about the middle of
October, attacking the pigs first, then the cattle, and lastly
the sheep. The disease commenced about five days after some
of them had been brought along the public road from the
market. . . . The full-grown cattle appeared to be more sub-
ject to the disease than the youngsters were. In the pigs and
the sheep the feet were most implicated, and the mouth in
cattle. The sheep were sometimes affected a second time,
but not the cattle or pigs. The disease then assumed a miti-
gated form, and was confined entirely to the feet. Not one
animal died out of four hundred and fifty sheep, thirty-six
cattle, and forty-two pigs."

' C. Charnock) Esq., Homefield House, Ferry Bridge, states :
"The first symptoms of the epidemic that appeared in my
stock were in a heifer about eighteen months old. I had six
of nearly that age in a public pasture near the riverside, when
a butcher turned a fat beast, which he had bought at Wake-
field, into the pasture. It was badly affected, both in the feet
and the mouth. It had been in the pasture two days before
I heard of it. I immediately had my heifers brought home,
and found that the smallest of them was ill of the disease.'
This was on the 20th of October, 1840. ... On the loth of
January, one of a lot of sixteen heifers in an open fold, that
had had no communication with the above-mentioned nor any
diseased cattle or stock whatever, exhibited the disease in both
its tongue and feet, and the number of stock mentioned were
affected in the course of the week. . . . There are some cattle
in the yards which have not been affected at all. January ist,
1841, I had three hundred and fifty hoggets and one hundred'
shearlings eating cut hybrid and Swede turnips in the field I
before mentioned, and three hundred breeding-ewes feeding

26

402 History of Animal Plagues.

on the scraps after them. In the afternoon of January 2nd
my shepherd found a few of the hoggets and shearlings lame.
I examined them next morning, and found decided symptoms
of the disease having attacked them ; and in the course of
January 4th I found several of my ewes likewise affected."^

' Sir Godfrey Webster gives an interesting account of his
cattle. His ground at Woolley Park, near Wakefield, is
rather flat, yet somewhat elevated ; the situation dry, and well
wooded. His cattle had not been in communication with any
others. The disease made its appearance first in a lot of
West Highland heifers three years old, on the 14th of January,
1841. It extended to seven store-pigs in the yards, and
about half the number of cattle were affected. They were out
of doors, in good condition, had been running in the park, and
during the storm were in a yard upon barley-straw. They
were evidently losing condition, and forsaking their food.
This was three days after their supposed infection. There
was disease of the mouth first, and afterwards of the feet ; and
the oldest cows were the worst, both in the feet and the mouth.
In some herds the disease appeared more than once, but it
was not so violent in the second attack. The number of
animals attacked by the disease included shorthorn cows,
heifers, steers, calves of different ages, and three and four-
year-old West Highland heifers. One calf died at a week
old, but that was the only animal that was lost. Two calves
were tried from the milk of the infected cows : one of them
died, as just stated ; the other, a little older, was also attacked,
but very soon recovered. Females pregnant, or when suckling
their young, seemed equally to participate in the disease, but
which seldom or never produced abortion. A few of the in-
calf heifers, and some that were in milk, and also several
store-pigs, were attacked with cutaneous eruptions.' 2

East Riding.— 'At Shipwell Hall, the residence of J. P-
Tulson, Esq., an epidemic made its appearance about the
middle of August, 1840, among the lambs. They had no com-
munication with any other animals except that they crossed
the public road from one side to another, and not herding m
iThe Veterinarian, vol. xvi. p. 386. " Op. cit. p. 272.

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 403

any place where diseased animals were or might have been, so
as to communicate any disorder. There were one hundred
and nineteen lambs. Three died at the commencement of
the disease, and three afterwards.'

' Mr. Smith, of Bridlington, in the neighbourhood of Flam-
borough Head, states his flock was one of the first affected.
On the 27th November, 1840, the disease suddenly broke out,
including wether shearlands and draught-ewes, gimmer shear-
lings, and rams. In the space of ten days it extended to the
wether and tup-hogs, and in all two hundred and eighty were
infected. The disease was also partially spreading to the cows.
The disease had not infected or appeared in any flock within
two miles of the place. . , . The milch-zo'NS were the only
cattle affected. . . . There were many cases of sheep having
been affected a second and even a third time, with augmented
severity. This was observed in the present instance in fifty
among the fat sheep, and twenty among the hogs, and in both
with considerable severity. . . . Abortion, in some flocks, pre-
vaied to a great extent.'

'Mr. Shaw, of Brantingham Hall, early in November, 1840,
purchased six in-calf Galloway heifers from a jobber near
Thirsk ; and as the epidemic was raging at the time, these
animals were placed in a wheat-stubble field by themselves,
and at a distance from any other cattle or sheep. One of the
heifers arrived with the disease upon her ; the others all took
it in three days, being attacked severely both in their mouths
and feet. Two of them calved dead calves, both of which
were affected by the disease. . . . They all recovered by the
beginning of December, and the disease did not spread among
his other cattle, although it was very prevalent all around. In
the third week in November, however, three ewes appeared to
be infected by the epidemic. On the 25th of January, 1841, it
attacked a yearling calf, and then going through the cow-
house, where more than forty head of cattle became affected
by it, as did likewise all the pigs, who had it slightly in their
feet. When the attack on the cattle commenced, the ground
was covered with snow, and the wind blew south-east.* The
animals just referred to had not been in communication with

26 — 2

404 History of Animal Plagues.

any others. They had not been driven along any public road,
nor herded with any diseased animals ; nor, to the best of
Mr. Shaw's knowledge, had any person been near them who
could have communicated the disease. They were in a grass
field, in good condition, and three or four years old. The
young calves were first attacked. The disorder usually ap-
peared in the mouth, and then in the feet ; in some cases in
the feet only. The sheep and beasts were affected in both the
mouth and feet ; the pigs in the feet only. Out of three ewes
affected none died, nor any out of twenty-eight pigs ; but one
cow and one calf out of forty did die. In the cow the lungs
were highly inflamed ; the calf was quite putrid. Out of four
cows far advanced in pregnancy, two produced dead calves,
and two picked their calves. After this disease subsided, all
the cows were attacked with cutaneous diseases of greater or
less violence, and the condition of them all was bad. . . .
With respect to sheep, three ewes only out of three hundred
have as yet been attacked, and that in November last. The
moment the fact was ascertained they were separated from
the flock, and it spread no farther.'^

Durham. — ' In Durham, Mr. Bainbridge, near Chester-le-
Street, gives an account of the epidemic as it appeared on his
farm. Out of one hundred head of cattle, eight only were
attacked by it. The disease first appeared in the mouth, and
thirty hours afterwards in the feet. They had all perfectly
recovered in three weeks.

' Mr. Farrow, of Ash, near Durham, could not trace any
connection between the disease and the soil or pasture on
which the animals fed, but believed that it was at first con-
fined to the cattle that had frequented the fairs and markets,
and was spread both by infection and contagion. Any person
or thing coming into contact with a diseased animal rapidly
propagated the malady; and, wherever it was accidentally
introduced by a diseased animal, it spread with a rapidity
scarcely credible. A farmer purchased a calf in the market,
and on his arrival home, in order to place the young animal
in a warm and comfortable berth, he took it into the cow-

1 Op. cit. p. 382.

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 405

house among his cows. Perceiving, however, that the young
animal was unwell, it was quickly removed to another place,
where it soon died. On the third day afterwards, the cow that
had stood next to the calf became diseased. Three days
after this the next exhibited symptoms of illness, and in six
days the whole of the dairy was affected. The rest of the
cattle on the farm were kept separated from these, and
escaped. A pig in the same yard broke from his confinement,
and got to the dunghill, where he ate some pieces of turnip
that came from the diseased cattle. On the third day after
this he became affected, while not one of the other pigs
suffered in *-he slightest degree. The symptoms of the dis-
ease, as described by Mr. Farrow, are well deserving of
observation. The animal seeks the most sheltered situation ;
the legs are brought as closely together as possible, and the
back is considerably elevated. The animal shivers at the
slightest exposure to cold. The feet become affected, or
frequently the feet and mouth are affected at the same time.
There is, at an early period of the disease, considerable itching
of the skin, and the animal is continually licking himself. On
the 19th and 20th October, 1840, a cattle fair was held at
Yarm, a market town on the east of the county. A drove of
Irish cattle was brought for sale, but, having evidently the
traces of disease among them, they remained unsold. A
great number of the cattle that had been at this fair contracted
the disease, which, no doubt, they had caught from these Irish
cattle. It was not, however, until after the great fair held at
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, on the 29th of October, 1840, that it
could be said to present an epidemic appearance. This fair
is the largest in the north of England. It is supplied with
cattle from the surrounding counties, and great numbers of
Scotch cattle are brought for sale. They have to travel great
distances, and are exposed to the vicissitudes of the season.
The night previous to the fair, they are brought within the
suburbs of the town, and mixed with cattle from many
different parts. The ground on which the fair is held is an
elevated situation, exposed to the north and north-east wind.
During the day a considerable quantity of rain fell, and the

4o6 History of Animal Plagues.

wind was cold. It was evident that great numbers of cattle
had contracted the disease. The unfavourable state of the
day, and the fear of the epidemic too evident before the in-
tending purchaser, caused a great quantity of cattle to be
unsold. These, on their return home, and also those which
had been purchased, very soon had the disease upon them. I
should say that this fair was the grand means by which the
disease was propagated to this and the adjoining counties. It
was evident that almost every beast that had been at market
sickened in a few days afterward. It was at this time con-
fined entirely to cattle that had been at market ; but it soon
began to appear along the public roads, and next upon farms
adjoining those that had infected cattle. It continued to exist
during the winter of 1841, either more or less, throughout the
county, occasionally breaking out on situations where no
direct communication could be traced with infected cattle.
Towards the spring of 1841 it considerably subsided, or
gradually died away. No sooner, however, had the movement
among stock taken place, and which usually occurs at this
season, than it reappeared. The summer produced few cases,
but the number increased as autumn came on ; it^ however,
assumed a very mild character, affecting the animals in a very
slight degree. Since that time it has occasionally appeared
among the cattle on a farm, without any assignable cause, but
generally confining itself to the place. There is at present
(1842), at a short distance from me, a stock of fourteen Kyloes
affected with it. They were bought in the autumn, and since
that time had been pasturing upon a high and exposed
situation. About a week previously it broke out among
them without any discoverable cause. . . . The epidemic
attacks those cattle first that have been at any market or fair.
So convinced were the farmers in general that the disease is
principally contracted at these places, that many of them
refused to purchase any cattle from the market. In almost
every instance the breaking out of the disease among the
cattle on a farm could be fairly traced to infection. The
animals had either been in contact with strange cattle, or
fresh cattle had been brought on the farm. A great number

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 407

of Irish and Scotch cattle are brought into this county twice
in the year— in the autumn for the straw-yard, and in the
spring for grazing purposes. They arrive in large droves, and
are sold to a great many farmers in small lots. The disease
generally breaks out in these droves, which they are frequently
obliged to rest for some time ; but those that have escaped,
and those that have recently recovered, are taken to the
different markets and sold. The purchaser, being quite
ignorant as to their having had or been amongst the disease
so recently, takes no precautions, and the consequence is that
the infection is propagated to the rest of his stock. These
droves have caused the disease to spread more fatally than all
other causes put together.'

Mr. Cleaver, of Darlington, reports : * The epidemic made
its appearance in the neighbourhood of Darlington early in
August, being introduced by some lean Irish stock bought at
Sopcliffe fair. The symptoms were extreme lameness, with
discharge from the cleft of the feet round the coronet to the
heels. . . . Sheep and pigs were affected the same way. The
milk affected the pigs shortly after taking it, and it is believed
that it was generally thrown away. The distemper did not
spread much in this neighbourhood until the latter part of
October. There is a very large cattle fair held at Yarm on
the 19th ; and a number of diseased cattle were brought there
from the neighbourhood of Leeds and Wakefield. These
beasts were bought up in small lots, divided into different
flocks, after which the disease spread every day. In the dis-
trict from twelve to fifteen miles round Darlington more than
two-thirds of the farmers had the disease among their stock.
... He heard of many beasts that had the disease a second
time, and had got through it as easily as at the first attack.
... He had only seen one decided case of epidemic in the
horse ; the tongue was skinned and the gums blistered.

' Mr. Wheatley, of Staindrop, Durham, describes it as having
occasionally, yet very rarely, appeared in his neighbourhood.
.... Swine underwent nearly the same treatment as cattle.
There were a few difficult and rather unusual cases among
horses.' 1

1 The Veterinarian, vol. xvi. p. 138.

4o8 History of Animal Plagues.

Northumberland.— In the parish of Kirk Newton, Mr.
Guy has a considerable farm. On the 30th of January' (the
weather mild, light southerly winds), the sheep-flock was
removed for two days to a part of the farm on which there
was a flock of diseased sheep, three-quarters of a mile to the
windward of them. His flock was divided into two parts, in
one of which the disease broke out on the third morning, and
in the other on the fourth, and then pursued its path through
both alike. The cattle were likewise aff'ected. The mouths
and tongues of the cattle were the worst, and the feet of the

^^.^^P Mr. Guy concludes by stating that, although

this malady seems to be highly contagious when a diseased
animal comes in contact with a sound one, and feeds on the
same pasture, or pasture that has been trodden upon by
infected cattle, and although the principle of infection seems
to be in many cases conveyed by the atmosphere, yet there is
a great deal of caprice about the matter. In his farm two
large lots of hoggets were divided from each other by a thin
hedge, and those on one side of the hedge were plainly
infected, yet three weeks passed and the disease was not com-
municated. He knew also of several cases in which the ewes
escaped, while the hoggets were affected. In other situations
the contrary occurred. Another agriculturist, of the name of
Hunt, and living in the same village, had seventy-six head of
cattle, in all but four of whom the symptoms were very mild.
They first appeared at the latter end of October, three months
before they were developed in the stock of Mr. Guy. The
milch-cows were earliest affected, and, after that, the fat cattle
began to fail. It spread through the whole herd, with the
exception of four beasts. It was a damp situation in which
the cows were when they first took the disease, but all the
young cattle were in the fold-yard when they were attacked.
His cattle had no communication with any others. They
never travelled along any road, or were hurdled in any place
where diseased cattle had previously been ; but they were
attended by a person who was employed among cattle, and
who was much- blamed for bringing the infection into his
yard.

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 409

' Mr. W. Jobson, Chillingham Newton, states that the
epidemic prevailed among part of his cattle, all his pigs, and
part of his sheep. It also appeared on many farms within a
mile of his, as well as on many others at a greater distance,
while it totally passed several intervening ones. It made its
first appearance in a lot of thirteen two-year-old steers, that
were brought from a pasture twelve miles distant to his farm
on the 20th of October, 1 840, and put into a grass field, where
turnips were laid down for them. On the morning of the
22nd, two of them were brought home unwell, and during
that day the other eleven were all affected with the disease.
It afterwards extended to more of his cattle, all his pigs, and
part of his sheep. The weather at the time the disease began
was open, with occasional slight showers of rain, but no frost
until a long time afterwards. When the frost set in, it was
thought that it would have stopped the further progress of
the disease, but the sheep took ill after the frost commenced.
The thirteen steers that were first attacked with the disorder
had no chance of having had communication with other
diseased animals, but they travelled along a road, on their
way home, on which it was afterwards found that two or
three lots of diseased cattle had passed three days before ;
and as they were halted for half an hour at a part of the road
where there is grass, it is conjectured that some of the
diseased cattle may have rested, and eaten grass at that place,
and on which his cattle afterwards browsed. What rendered
this almost certain was, that they were in perfect health on
"the morning of the 20th of October, when they were brought
from their pasture ; and that the field was free from infection
is equally certain, as nine cattle and eight score of sheep were
sent to the pasture on the same day on which the thirteen
steers left it. These nine cattle remained in it until the 9th
of December, and the eight score of sheep until the i6th of
January, all of which continued in perfect health, never having
been permitted to mix with or come near those that were

diseased The thirteen steers were all seized on the

second day after the supposed infection. Seventeen other
cattle got among them during the night previous to their

4IO History of Animal Plagues.

having been observed to be ill, five of which became ill on the
second day, six more on the third day, two on the fourth day,

and the remaining four on the fifth day He had about

sixty cases of cattle, twenty of pigs, and six hundred sheep.

He had only one death among those which were

attacked. It had not quite disappeared among the

sheep at the beginning of March, 1 841, but there were no
cases among the cattle and pigs for more than two months
before. There were yet more than forty head of cattle and
four hundred sheep on the farm which had not been attacked.
They had been kept carefully apart from the infected portion
of the stock. In conclusion, Mr. Jobson offers it as his firm
opinion that the disease is entirely infectious ; he had not
seen, in the experience which he had had with his own stock,
or what he had heard of others, any cause to think otherwise.
Whenever the animals have been kept carefully out of the
way of diseased ones, or of persons who have been among
those which were diseased, they have been free from the
complaint.'^

Westmoreland. — Mr. Sarginson, V.S., Appleby, on the
river Eden, in an excellent account of the epizooty, observes
that 'in 1840-41, it created much causeless fear and anxiety
among graziers generally, at its commencement. Many of
the druggists, within twenty miles of this place, took ad-
vantage of the prevailing excitement, and in several of the
provincial papers reported the disease as being one of the
most dangerous and fatal maladies that had hitherto appeared;
but, at the same time, all of them boasted of their own
specific. Many persons were thus induced to resort to foolish
but innocent measures, both as preventives and cures, whilst
others employed the most dangerous and destructive remedies.
Some striking and serious examples of the latter are given.
. . . . This disease appeared under all circumstances. Neither
mild, foggy, rainy, windy, nor frosty weather seemed to exert
any influence in either favouring or arresting its progress ; nor
did it make any distinction of soils or localities, but continued
to pursue its course with a steady perseverance until it had

iQp. cit. p. 83.

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.B. 1840. 411

inoculated the whole neighbourhood. It is true that a stock
of cattle here and there, and now and then one or two among
an infected stock, escaped its attack ; but, generally, the cattle
on a farm were all seized by it at nearly the same time ; then
the pigs became diseased, and afterwards the sheep.

'At Low Bridge House, near Kendal, is the residence of
R. Fothergill, Esq. The disease was brought to his neigh-
bourhood by the purchase of cattle at Kendal fair, on the 9th
of November, 1840. He bought six two-year-old Galloway
heifers at that fair, and which were then apparently free from
the complaint. On the 14th the first was taken ill. It had a
sore mouth, and was lame. On the 20th four others were ill ;
and on the 21st the sixth. On the 23rd, and at different
times up to the 30th, six Galloway and four shorthorn cows
were ill of the complaint. These ten were in a cow-house
one-third of a mile from the others, but zvere attended to by the
smne man. On the 19th of December he bought from the
same dealer seven other heifers. They were the last of the
lot, and had been at Kendal fair, and, not selling, came back
to the same land. Between the fair-day and the 19th of
December they had the same complaint, and were nearly
well. ... A flock of thirty Cheviot ewes and a tup took the
complaint, being in the field in which the six Galloways were
put when brought from Kendal fair. The shepherd's dog also
sjiffered in the feet and the month. On the other hand, Mr.
Fothergill had cattle and sheep on other parts of the farm
that were quite well, having taken care to prevent their being
on the same land with the infected ones, or tended by the
same shepherd.

' Mr. R. W. Fisher has also a farm in the neighbourhood of
Kendal on which the epidemic made its appearance in the
latter part of November. His cattle had not been in com-
munication with any others, but the pasture which they
occupied adjoined a public road, along which some infected
animals had probably been driven. The heifers were out of
doors, and in good condition. He had about forty head of
cattle and fifty sheep. Only four of his cattle — three yearling
Skye heifers and one old heifer — were attacked. The pre-

412

History of Animal Plagues.

caution adopted by him was to house the infected cattle in a
building altogether apart from his other stock, and he em-
ployed one man to attend to them, who was not permitted to
enter the barn, or any other out-house.'^

Mr. Younghusband, of Greystoke, writes : ' On November
20th, 1840, I was sent for to Mr. S. Sewel, of Scale, to give
my advice respecting what he termed an obscure disease in
a two-year-old heifer. I was at once able, from the accounts
I had read in the Veterinai^imi, to pronounce it to be a case
of the prevailing epizooty. Mr. S. had purchased a cow a few
weeks before that had crossed a road over which some in-
fected beasts had travelled ; but whether this was the cause of
the disease I am not able to say. . . . From the date of my
second visit until the 28th of the same month, more or less of
the cattle were affected every day. . . . This person had two
good store-pigs, which I strenuously advised him to have
killed, as they lay close to one of the affected cow-houses, and
in all likelihood would catch the disease. He immediately
complied with this advice ; and well was it for him that he
did, as a fine breeding-sow adjoining caught the disease in the
first week, and was ill for nearly three more. In a few days
after this the rest of the pigs caught the infection, though not
in so severe a degree. . . . The next stock I had to attend
belonged to my brother-in-law, Mr. T. Richardson, consisting
of about forty cattle. Most of them had the disease in a mild
form. . . . One beast, a yearling bull, had it in a most aggra-
vated form, both in the mouth and feet, and, in spite of our
best treatment, cast all the horny part of his hoofs. The pigs
on this farm were all similarly affected, most of them casting
their hoofs. In another farming stock which I attended
similar cases were observed.' ^

Cumberland. — The only relation concerning the epizooty
in this county is from the pen of Mr. Carlisle, veterinary
surgeon, of Wigton, in 1841, and is as follows: 'The word
" epidemic " applies to any disease more or less general or
universal among cattle, sheep, and swine, or even the human
being, and which depends on some common cause or peculiar
1 Op. cit. p. 135. -Op. cit. p. 615.

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 413

state of the atmosphere. Epidemic diseases are doubtless
generated by the existence of some peculiar poison or
deleterious gas by which the atmosphere becomes con-
taminated, and which, coming into contact with the blood
in the lungs, or through the medium of the common envelope
or skin, this fluid is affected or empoisoned by it, and con-
sequently the parts which it supplies become deranged in
structure and function. The peculiar state of the atmosphere
under which the various epidemics and epizootics occur has
never been satisfactorily explained. It is changed in the pro-
portions of its component gases, or empoisoned by miasmata
which had escaped from the bowels of the earth, not cognizable
by our senses, nor detectable by our ablest chemists. The
change is known only by the effects produced on the animal
body. Epidemics assume different forms and characters,
depending very much on the locality, the predisposition of
the animals, and this unknown atmospheric poison. Locality

is a great predisposing agent to epidemic diseases

Locality often influences the character of disease, and is the
cause of some singular train of symptoms, varying with the
soil, pasture, and previous management of the cattle ; but the
present disease is little influenced by it. It assumes nearly
the same character almost universally ; it is highly infectious,
and also contagious. The disease has been communicated to
beasts previously sound by butchers, veterinary surgeons, and
the usual attendants on cattle ; and it has been propagated
by cattle walking on roads where infected ones had previously
gone. Its origin, however, is in the atmosphere, and its
nature and properties far beyond our comprehension. It may
be conveyed from one animal to another by vaccination
(inoculation ?). I vaccinated nearly one hundred, and the
disease seemed very much mitigated. I also vaccinated
several horses and dogs with the virus or matter taken from
the diseased cattle, but it had not the least effect. It appears,
in its present form, to be confined to the cloven-footed
animals ; yet we have well-authenticated facts of the attendants
on these diseased cattle being similarly affected, from having
a wound on some external part of the body, with which some

414 History of Animal Plagues.

of the matter had come in contact, and produced similar
eruptions, or sore throat, and considerable constitutional
derangement. . . . The following is a curious and unequivocal
fact, that calves newly dropped have had confirmed murrain
at the time, clearly proving that they must have imbibed the
disease from the parent during utero-gestation. I have wit-
nessed, at the time of birth, every symptom and effect of the
disease truly manifested. Cattle, in this part of the country,
have done very badly after calving. There is a great tendency
to force down the uterus, and it is generally from four to eight
days before the placenta comes away. In several cases I was
obliged to remove it by manual force. In six cases that came
under my treatment the uterus was completely forced down
at the time of calving. When practicable, I removed the
placenta before reducing or returning the uterus. Three
cases took place in one cow-house, and the most remarkable
thing was, that the cows were standing all together. I con-
sulted my friend Mr. Relph on the subject, and he informed
me that he recollected cases of the same sort. In his opinion
it was a species of epidemic, and I am inclined to think that
it is connected with or left on the animal by the late epidemic.
I am further confirmed in my inference by the following facts :
In not less than fifty patients that I was called upon to
attend, and all of which had the epidemic, the animals were
continually straining, as if they wanted to get rid of some
foreign or irritating substance, and continuing to void a great
quantity of putrid matter for a length of time. Many that
were affected in this way never gave any milk ; and others
were obliged to go dry from the udder becoming so much
affected. May I be permitted to ask what is the rationale of
calves showing symptoms of the epidemic at birth? Also,
what can be the cause of that lurking, irritable and inflamma-
tory disposition of the uterus after parturition in the cattle
previously affected by the epidemic?'^

Berwick-upon-Tweed.— J. S. Donaldson, Selby, gives the
following account : The epidemic first made its appearance
among his cows and feeding cattle on or about the 20th of

J Op. cit. vol. xiv. pp. 189, 332.

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 415

December, 1840, and extended to the cattle of all ages, and
also to the sheep, and in one case to a pig that was shut up to
feed, and to which some of the milk from a diseased cow had
been given. The rest of the pigs, to the number of forty,
being in the fold-yards, escaped. 1

Cornwall. — Mr. Karkeek, of Truro, one of the ablest and
most scientific veterinary surgeons of his day, to certain ques-
tions replies in 1841 : ' I will now endeavour briefly to answer
your queries relative to the "epidemic" among cattle, sheep,
and pigs in my neighbourhood. It has prevailed chiefly in
three or four parishes situated about the centre of the county
of Cornwall, and embracing a circuit of nearly fifteen miles.
The soil lies on the clay-slate chiefly, and may be considered
to be as highly cultivated as any part of the kingdom. Most
of the cattle had been housed previous to the attack, and had
been feeding on turnips. Previous to the ist of December, I
believe that I am correct in stating that we had not a single
case in my district. There may have been some few in the
neighbourhood bordering on Devonshire, but I never heard
of any. On the ist of December there was a fair of cattle
held at St. Austell, to which several cattle were brought either
from Devon or Somerset for sale. These were chiefly pur-
chased by a few farmers ; and in about three or four days at
the utmost this epidemic was observed in each of the farms to
which these strange cattle had been taken. Other cattle that
were exposed for sale, and that stood alongside of the eastern
cattle in the fair, showed symptoms of the disease about the
same time ; so that in the course of one week after the fair
alluded to the disease had rapidly spread, but still was con-
fined to the cattle on the different farms to which it first was
carried. Notwithstanding the utmost precaution was taken
by the farmers to prevent this disease from spreading, by
prohibiting all persons that had had any communication with
infected places from visiting their farm-yards, before the latter
part of the month (December) other places became diseased,
and in every instance that I know of it never ceased to spread
until nearly the whole of the cattle, sheep, and pigs in the

^ Op. cit. vol. xvi. p. 80.

41 6 . History of Animal Plagues.

place were infected. There were three very clear cases, for
the truth of which I can vouch, in which the disease was
carried to the adjoining farms by their owners visiting their
neighbours' infected cattle, and then going immediately home
and examining their own stock to see if they were still free
from the calamity. In one instance of this kind the distance
of three miles existed between the farms. The foregoing
statement proves the disease to be highly contagious ; and, at
the same time, I consider it to be likewise infectious. It is
one of those contagious diseases which is communicable both
by contact and without it, like small-pox, the matter of which,
when brought into direct contact with the body, will produce
small-pox ; or when suspended in the air, or coming in con-
tact with the body, is capable of being thus produced. My
reason for supposing it to be infectious is in consequence of
the great care taken to prevent the disease spreading, yet, in
spite of every precaution, whenever it entered a farmyard,
whether by positive contact or through the medium of the air,
it spread rapidly, until every ox, sheep, and pig was infected.
In no instance did I observe the horse attacked ; and yet it
was not altogether confined to quadrupeds, since I had one
plain and palpable instance of this disease being communi-
cated to the human subject. I heard of two others of a similar
kind, but the case I allude to is sufficient for our purpose. It
was that of a young farmer, who exhibited every symptom
which characterizes the disease. There were the vesicles on
the alae of the nose, at the point, and on the sides ; at the
point and dorsum of the tongue, and on the gum of the upper
and lower jaw. There was the constant flow of saliva ; the
inability to eat and drink anything either hard, or very hot, or
very cold. This patient (for I attended him as well as his
cattle) is an intimate and particular friend, and I had many
opportunities of witnessing the progress of the complaint.
He informed me that he was first taken ill with what he called
a cold shivering fit about the hour of bedtime ; and believing
that he had taken a cold, as he termed it, he drank a posset of
treacle and milk. For some hours after, although warmly
covered up, the cold fit continued. By the morning this had

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 417

left him, and was succeeded by the hot fit. There was a great
degree of constitutional disturbance; he had a difficulty of
deglutition ; his bowels were costive ; his nose constantly
itching ; his tongue and palate dry ; and the pulse ranging
between 70 and 100, accompanied by great prostration of
strength. During the night which succeeded he could get no
sleep ; the itching of the nose was increased, and sometimes
he had sharp and violent pains in the head and face. The
next morning there was a discharge of an offensive matter
from his nostrils, and for the first time he observed the vesicles
on his gums and tongue. On the next day the discharge had
assumed a semi-purulent appearance. He afterwards took
some mild aperient medicine, and in about a week or ten days
was nearly recovered. I have every reason to believe that the
disease was communicated to him from having injured one of
his fingers in giving a drench to a cow. The wound had.a
very unhealthy appearance for some time previous to his
being attacked as I have described.' 1

_ Devonshire.— I can find no mention made of the disease
in this county until the 2nd of January, 1841, although the ■
accounts of veterinary surgeons and others concur in lending
testimony to the supposition that it had been witnessed there
previous to that date, and that diseased cattle had been con-
veyed from it into other counties. Mr. Read, of Crediton, in
May, 1841, states : ' It has prevailed on a small farm of my
own, distant two miles and a half from Crediton, the town in
which I reside. It broke out on the 2nd of January, 1841,
attacking five milch-cows, and extending to the sheep and
s\vine. The farm is situate in Sandford, in the county of
Devon. ... The mouths were chiefly infected, and the feet
: subsequently in the cows ; in sheep and pigs the feet were all
(diseased first, or their being lame first made it observable. . .
Wether sheep and barreners in my locality have all done well
lunder this disease, but most devastating havoc has been made
'by Its malign influence on the progeny of the parturient ewe
^At this period of the year (with us the middle of the lambing
^season) the destructive ravages it has made are almost incal-
^ The Veterinarian, vol. xiv. p. 151.

27

4i8

History of Animal Plagues.

culable. One-half of the lambs dropped at present have died
from the third or fourth day to as many weeks old. The ewes
with the disease lamb well ; and the lambkins seem thriving
until the third day, when they begin to droop, and in a few
hours are dead. A listlessness comes over them, and a general
torpor, and they die in a comatose state, with (in some) an in-
voluntary discharge of faeces and urine a little previously. In
numerous cases, where the young animals, when only a few
days old, have had the distemper in the feet or mouth, they
have done well ; but when the malady has not been exter-
nally visible they have died. Mr. Hainwood, of Longbarn, an
accurate observer, had a sow that farrowed and brought forth
a litter of ten pigs. The sow at their birth had the epizootic.
The little ones sucked, looked well, plump, and glossy, and
full of their gambols ; but on the fourth day seven died in a
few hours. No premonitory symptoms were observed. On
the fifth the remaining three died also. . . . Many calves have
died in my neighbourhood from three to ten days old, from
sucking their dams while affected with the epizootic. . . . Out
of from one thousand to fifteen hundred head of cattle, none
have died. ...

'The summer of 1840, from the latter end of February to
October, was very dry. As soon as the rain set in, which it
did about the beginning of October, the influenza among
horses developed itself, although but a few solitary cases
had occurred in the interim since the year 1836. The
prevailing wind was northerly and easterly; its course was
not regular, but in a varied direction. Miles apart, some inter-
vening stable remained free. In some stables it confined its
influence to one or two horses ; in others it ran through the
whole. It is remarkable that as soon as the snow mantled
the ground, on reference to my statistical record, not a single
fresh case occurred, but only from those stables that had
been infected with the disease beforehand. From its abruptly
ceasing, a fair conclusion may be drawn that the empoisoned
emanation, which was capable of exerting its influence on the
animal frame, was prevented from commingling with the
atmosphere, and the means of infection suspended, and be-

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 419

came more concentrated. Now comes the fact, extraordinary
as it may appear, that as soon as the snow set in, horses were
exempted, and, for the first time in my locality it began to
exert its infectious agency on cattle, sheep, and swine as the
thaw began, and is now on the increase. Now whether the
poison, from being imprisoned by the snow, became more
malignant, or acquired any new component constituent,
cannot be determined (should such poison be an evolution
from the earth) ; for as soon as the thaw commenced, and it
became free, cattle, sheep, and swine were within two or three
days attacked. I have here to note another singular incident
(but it must be borne in mind that I am confining myself to
my own locality, equi-distantly seven miles, as near as I can
imagine, from the town in which I reside)— that in those
stables and on those farms where the influenza had previously
run its course amongst horses, I have not as yet had a single
case of the epizooty with the other stock. On the other hand,
on those very identical farms that are now under the disease,
and have had the cattle epizooty, not one single horse has
been affected by it.'^

Scotland. — As to when the disease appeared in Scotland
there is no detailed account ; neither is there any satisfactory
description of its progress in that country. Meagre notices
of epizootic visitations in this part of the kingdom are only
found at rare intervals, and no care appears to have been
taken to record them with accuracy.

For the county of Fife, Mr. Dods, of Kirkaldy, reports : ' It '
(the disease) ' made its first appearance in this district in the
beginning of December, 1840, but at first confined itself to a
small district ; the occupiers of these parts having purchased
cattle at the annual Edinburgh fair, in the middle of November,
for feeding purposes. The first symptom I perceived of it, was
the hair slightly roughened and elevated. In eight or ten
hours the hair was more erect. In twenty to thirty hours
from its first appearance an eruption was observed in the
mouth of some cattle, on the feet of others, and many were
affected in the mouth, feet, and teats The disease at

J The Veterinarian, vol. xiv. p. 301.

27—2

420

History of Animal Plagues.

length disappeared for two or three months, and then recom-
menced late in the spring of the year, when an unusual
number of calves were brought to this place from Edinburgh.
I cannot say where they were bred. They were principally
sold to what are termed hill-farmers, whose living chiefly
depends on the breeding and grazing of them. Soon after
they had reached these remote places, the disease broke out
among the cattle that were at pasture, and continued for a

long time No particular state of the atmosphere seems

to influence the disease, either mitigating or aggravating it.
It is a contagious disease, but not of an epidemic character.
This disease among cattle is of a variolous nature, and re-
sembles small-pox more than any other eruptive disease

I have taken the matter from the teat of a diseased cow, and
inserted it into the skin of my hand and arm, and in both
cases have produced distinct pustules on them. I have also
drunk of their milk, and have fed dogs, puppies, cats, kittens,
and pigs with it, without their experiencing any bad effects
from it ; but there is always danger after the disease has been
upon the cow for thirty hours.' ^

The Kelso Mail for 1840, states that the disease was very
general among the horned stock, but that the wild cattle in
Chillingham Park had entirely escaped.

In an Irish newspaper in 1840 there is the following notice:
' The epidemic among cattle has continued in England. Pigs
as well as horned cattle were attacked. It has also appeared
in Scotland.' 2

Edinburgh.— Professor Dick, in a brief letter to the
'Veterinarian,' dated the 21st of January, 1841, gives a de-
scription of the epizooty, which appears to have been wit-
nessed by him in a mild form.^ There is also some corres-
pondence between that gentleman and some practitioners,
reported in the same journal, but it gives no indication as to
the prevalence of the malady, nor yet of its varying charac-
teristics.*

1 The Veterinarian, vol. xvi. p. 37S. ' The Dublin Freeman's Journal.

3 The Veterinarian, vol. xiv. p. i8l. " Ibid. vol. xv. p. 625.

Period fj'om A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 421

Ireland. — We have no certain or reliable evidence as to the
exact period when the malady was imported into this island.
Some writers would lead one to infer that it had been carried
from Britain, and others that it was primarily derived from
foreign sources, and taken from Ireland to England. Pro-
fessor Gamgee, for instance, in his evidence before the Cattle
Plague Commission in 1865, says, in regard to the foot-and-
mouth affection : ' In the outbreaks of that disease that have
been so general over Europe from time to time, it might have
come from almost any part. The foot-and-mouth disease of
the Continent could have been easily imported ; but the first
instance that I think we had of it was in some cattle that
came from Holland to Cork in 1838. The; Consul at the
Hague imported some cattle for breeding purposes, and the
produce of that stock is still to be traced there ; now, perhaps,
in the twenty-fifth generation.'^ In a lecture, however, read
before the Royal Dublin Society, in 1862, that gentleman, on
referring to the advent of the epizooty, with that of con-
tagious pleuro-pneumonia, gives a different period as the
date of their introduction. 'The province of Munster was
the first to be visited by them. It owes this to its ports in
the .south. I have made careful inquiries on the subject.
Prior to the introduction of the new tariff, animals were fre-
quently brought to this country for breeding purposes. A
considerable number of Dutch cows were imported into Cork
as early as 1839, and this was due to the desire on the part
of an Irish gentleman, then minister at the Hague, I believe,
to infuse .some of the excellent Dutch blood amongst the
cattle of Ireland. At that time pleuro-pneumonia and epizootic,
aphtha were raging abroad. The distillers in the neighbour-
hood of Rotterdam and Schiedam had carried these diseases
to South Holland, and they even passed into Zealand. It is
not to be wondered at, then, that our first cargoes of live
stock from that port injured us as they did. Through the
port of Bristol the west of England was infected by cattle
from this country (Ireland), though it is said that the diseases

1 First Report of the Commissioners on tlie Cattle Plague, p. i lo.

422

History of Animal Plagues.

traversed the British Channel, owing to direct intercourse
between England, France, and Belgium.' ^ In July, 1839,
mention is made of an epizooty amongst pigs, cows, and
horses at Armagh,^ but I cannot find any symptoms recorded,
and it is not until 1841 that I am able to fix with certainty on
the presence of the malady in Ireland. For March of that year
we read : ' The epidemic (among horned cattle) which has for
some time been so prevalent in England, has reached this
country. It is of a highly contagious nature.' ^ And towards
the end of April aphthous fever was very severe in the vicinity
of Ennis, and spread generally among the sheep in County
Clare.*

A medical gentleman, reporting on typhus fever in Ireland
at this time, casually noticed the prevalence of the epizooty,
though he confounded it with another of a far more deadly
character, and which will be referred to presently. He says :
' It is curious to observe that a disease at this time prevailed
amongst horned cattle, pigs, goats, and sheep. It was (I fear
from ignorance) dreadfully fatal, and the cause of much dis-
tress to numerous poor families. It was a p^euro-pneumonia
to all intents and purposes, divisible into two stages — primary
and secondary. In the first there was ulceration of the feet,
lining membrane of the mouth, nose, etc., with slavering of a
frothy saliva ; the fauces became swollen, like the strangles in
horses. In cows, the teats became inflamed ; the lacteal
ducts, as a consequence, suffered obliteration, rendering the
animal useless as a milker. In the secondary form of the
distemper we had inflammations of the pleura and lungs, de-
manding active sanguineous depletion, followed by purgatives,
calomel, tartar emetic, etc.'^

The Irishman newspaper for April, 1841, indicates the pre-
valence of the malady in and around Dublin : ' Having had
communication from different quarters on the subject of the
epidemic which at present prevails to such an alarming extent
among the cattle in the city and neighbourhood of Dublin,

1 The Edinburgh Veterinary Review. ^ The Dublin Medical Press.

' The Irish Farmers' Magazine. ■* Void.

" G.Jackson. Report of Cork Street Hospital.

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 423

and which is likely to spread into the country— and in the
remote and distant parts the owners of cattle not having the
same opportunities or facilities of obtaining the best advice
and medical treatment— I think it would be of much import-
ance that the nature and effects of the disease, and the best
modes of treating it, should be as speedily and widely diffused
as possible. . . . From what I have seen and heard of the dis-
temper and its symptoms, I have a strong impression that it
is neither more nor less than the epidemic murrain which de-
vastated Europe from the beginning to the middle of the
eighteenth century, and which has shown itself since at dif-
ferent periods, but in a more gentle and mitigated form.
During the last fortnight I have had considerable experience
and practice in the matter, for in four days every cow, heifer,
and calf in my establishments was attacked ; but I am happy
to say that now, at the end of twelve days from the first
attack (with the exception of two who are fast recovering)
they are all quite well. The first attacks and symptoms were
very similar. A few weeks ago the cows were all coughing
more or less, which I attributed to a change of house and air,
but which I have since found was a precursor of the disease.
The next symptoms were loss of appetite and of milk ; a dis-
charge of saliva from the mouth or nostrils, or both ; swelling
and great heat of the tongue, throat, palate, and internal parts
of the mouth ; a strong disinclination to move, and, when
stirred, stiffness of the limbs, and great tenderness of the feet.
These symptoms are accompanied by a hard, inflammatory
pulse, shivering, and in many cases high fever, and constipa-
tion of the bowels. ... In all cases diluted chloride of lime
must be largely used, not only in washing the infected parts,
but also in sprinkling the stalls and other parts of the cow-
house. Unless this be paid attention to when the disorder is
prevalent, and the strictest cleanliness observed, there will be
an intolerably offensive smell, the disorder will be prolonged
among the sufferers, and the danger of spreading considerably
augmented. That it is contagious there can be no doubt ;
my cattle all became infected in the order in which they
stood.' 1

^ The Veterinarian, vol. xiv. p. 254.

424 History of Animal Plagzies.

Professor Ferguson, of Dublin, in a lecture delivered in the
middle of 1842, on 'The Contagious Pleuro-pneumonia of
Cattle,' IS the only other writer I can meet with at this time
who refers to the invasion. Unfortunately his assertions, like
those of Professor Gamgee's, are not supported by proofs.' He
says: 'A period of nearly three years has elapsed since the
first appearance in this country of a peculiar epizooty among
horned cattle, the chief characteristic of which was a pustular
affection of the mouth, nose, and feet. Previous to being ob-
served in Ireland, it had existed for some short time in the
sister island (England), to which, like many epidemic diseases
of the human species, it had travelled from the far east by a
rather circuitous route, traversing both shores of the Mediter-
ranean, then committing sad devastations among the herds
of cattle in Spain, France, Switzerland, Holland, Belgium,
Bohemia, Hungary, and Prussia, before it became the unwel-
come visitor of the British Islands. Fortunately, this disease
was short in its sojourn, mild in its effects, and extremely easy

of treatment Unfortunately, although the pustular disease

was so mild in its effects on every description of animal which
it attacked (lambs excepted), it was, in all countries which it
visited, merely the precursor of one of the most fatal forms of
distemper that has been known to exist within the memory of

man.'^

The geographical course pursued by this contagious epizooty
in Europe, according to the accounts of the different reporters,
is conveniently indicated in the following table :

60°— 50° North Latitude. 50°— 40° North Latitude.

50° — 40° East Longitude.
Podolia, Poland and Hungary (?), com-
mencement of 1838.

40° — 30° East Longitude.
Pomerania. May, 1838, Styria. Springtime, 1838.

Berlin. June, 1838. Bohemia. June, 1838.

Kingdom of Saxony, July, 1838. Italy, Venice. 1838.

Tuscany. Springtime, 1839.

Naples. Aug. 1S39.

H. Ferguson. The Present Distemper of Cattle. Dublin, 1842, p. i.

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 425

60° — 50° North Latitude. 50°— 40° North Latitude,

30°— 20° East Longitude.

Magdebourg. End of May, 1838.
Mersebourg. End of July, 1838.
Thuringia, Erfurt, Ordurf. July, 1838.
Fulda. Aug. 17, 1S38.
Upper Hesse, Grand Duchy. Sept. 4,
X838.

Upper Hesse, Electoral. Oct. lo, 1838.
Mecklenburg. 1838.

Bavaria.

Franconia. July and Aug. 1838.
Wurtemberg. Aug. 1838.
Geneva. Sept. 1838.
Alsace. Aug. and Sept. 1838.

Vosges. Oct. 1838.
Paris. Dec. 1838.

Normandy. Summer, 1839.

Bessin, Normandy. May, 1840.

20° — 10° East Longitude,
England. — Northampton. March, 1839. France, Valley of the Auge
,, Buckinghamshire. May, 1839.
,, Norfolk. Nov. 1839.

Kent, Sussex, Worcestershire,
Gloucestershire, Cheshire,
Huntingdonshire. Feb.
1840.

,, Essex, Derbyshire, Stafford-
shire. March, 1840.

,, Lincolnshire. April, 1840.

„ Yorkshire (North and West
Ridings). June, 1840.

„ Lancashire, Nottingham.
July, 1840.
Yorkshire (East Riding),
Durham. Aug. 1840.

,, Northumberland. Oct. 1840.

,, Westmoreland. Nov. 1840.
Cornwall, Berwick -on -
Tweed. Dec. 1840.

„ Devonshire. Jan. 1841.
Scotland. — Fife, Edinburgh. Dec. 1840.

Quimperle, Brittany.
Spain (?).

Jan. 1842.

10"

Ireland.

East Longitude.
-1838 (?). Cork, Armagh. July,

1839 {?)•
Dublin, County Clare. April,
1840.

Portugal {?).

There is no evidence to show that any legislative attempt
was made to check the progress of the disease ; indeed, it does
not seem to have struck our legislators that there was any
occasion for a sanitary police, and no one appears to have
suggested the necessity for arresting its spread. The intro-
duction, diffusion, and degree of intensity of the malady was
doubtless greatly influenced by the trade in foreign cattle,
which began soon after the contagion was imported, and by

426 Histoiy of Animal Plagues.

their unrestricted movement over the country. When it first
appeared, its severity varied much in different parts of the
country. In some parts of England fatal cases were not of
unfrequent occurrence, and its duration was long, cases being
oftentimes tedious and troublesome ; but at a later periodi
towards its decline, it became less severe and more rare. In
Scotland it never assumed such a formidable character, nor
diffused itself so widely, as in the southern parts of the island ;
indeed, in some districts the malady was exceedingly mild.
A slight lameness and tenderness of the mouth was observable
for some days, and then the animal was well again. In many
such cases the loss of condition was but sHght, and was com-
pensated for by the subsequent improvement. After the
disease had existed in the country for about two years, its
virulence gradually abated, and the number of cases decreased,
until little was heard of it for some years.

A.D. 1840. The vegetable kingdom was in a very unhealthy
condition this year. In many countries honey-dew and
' albigo ' destroyed the crops ; and in Germany, as well as in
the island of Arran and the Highlands of Scotland generally,
potatoes suffered much from blight. In the latter country it
lasted from 1839 until 1842, and destroyed at least one-half
of the stock of that useful plant. At Berlin, more particularly,
the Botrytis cpipJiylla was destructive. Great swarms of the
maybug invaded Germany.

The contagious pleuro-pneumonia of cattle was epizootic in
Lithuania.^ The malady also appeared in the Pas-de-Calais,
France. ' This epizooty has pursued its course with much
severity in the Arrondissement of Saint-Omer, whence it
came to us (at St. Pierre), as well as to the cantons of
Ardres and De-Guines. It was during 1839 that this disease
was noticed in its more severe form among cattle in our
commune ; its ravages increased at the commencement of
1840, especially in those localities lying south of the town,
abutting on and communicating with the Boulogne marshes,
and therefore low and damp,'^

^ Adamowicz. Magazin fur Thierheilkunde, vol. vi.
2 Venquin. Recueil de Med. Veter. vol. xviii.

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 427

So serious was the damage caused by the disease, that the
attention of the French Government was directed to it. It
was then usually designated as the ' peripneumonie con-
tagieuse,' or ' maladie de poitrine du gros betail.'

' Among the serious and fatal maladies to which cattle are
exposed, that of the chest, known by the name of peri-
pneumony, occupies a prominent place. Existing from time
immemorial in the mountainous countries of Jura, the Vosges,
Dauphiny, and among the milch-cows in Paris and its
environs, it has within the last ten years spread into most of
the departments that are rich in cattle. In most of the
localities where considerable traffic in these animals is carried
on, whether for milk or for fattening, this disease exists ;
while in those which are concerned in the exportation of
young beasts, as Cotenten, La Vendee, Brittany, and Limousin,
peripneumony is unknown. All the departments which fur-
nish our milch-cows, as that of the Seine, the Seine-et-Oise,
the Somme, and the north, are a prey to this fearful malady.
The beautiful milch-cows of the valley of Bray have not
escaped. This rich valley, distant only twenty-five leagues
from the capital, and occupying a space of twenty-four leagues
in length and five in width, containing more than forty
thousand milch-cows, and representing a capital of thirteen
million and a half francs, sending to the market butter and
cheese and fat cattle to the amount of eight million annually,
has of late been, in a manner, devastated by pneumonia. Two
thousand beasts, of the value of five hundred thousand francs,
have been lost. These disasters, which seemed to compromise
the wealth and industry of the inhabitants of Bray, attracted
the attention of the Government, and Professor Delafond was
sent to the valley to study the disease, to ascertain its
character and causes, and to devise the means which may
prevent or cure it. He remained more than two months at
Bray, and instituted various inquiries, which have led to the
most important results ; and more particularly has he ascer-
tained that this disease is produced not merely by the in-
fluence of local causes, but also by contagion. Before he set
out for Normandy he doubted the possibility of this mode of

428

History of Animal Plagues.

communication of the disease ; but a great number of facts,
well authenticated, have convinced him that the malady may-
be spread by having sick animals brought near those in good
health, both in the stable and at pasture.' ^

So early as 1838, M. Mathieu, inspecting veterinary surgeon
of the Vosges department, published some valuable remarks
on this disease, which he named 'gangrenous peripneumony '
and 'pneumo-sarcie.' He stated that it was most frequent
and destructive in the mountainous parts of the country,
where it was an enzootic and permanent malady, and that it
was only by means of its wonderfully contagious property
that it appeared among the cattle of the plains. The
symptoms are minutely and exactly given, and the appear-
ances after death faithfully described. The alterations were
limited to the chest, the cavity of which usually contained two
or three gallons of a thick, yellow, serous fluid, in which were
numerous flocculi of lymph ; the pleurae were covered with
false membranes of a yellow-green colour; the lungs were
enlarged and increased in weight ; their tissue solid, marbled
and hepatized, and retaining very few portions in which the
air-cells, or even the smaller bronchi, could be traced.
Besides the mysterious exciting causes of epizooties, con-
tagion played the chief part in the diffusion of the pestilence,
owing to the carelessness in stabling the cattle in crowds
during the winter months in badly-ventilated and improper
buildings. The severe cold in winter, and the variable climate
during the summer, were predisposing, or even exciting causes
in this region. The measures recommended to prevent the
propagation of the disease were : separating the diseased from
the healthy, and appointing different people to attend on
them ; abstaining from the sale or purchase of cattle ; avoid-
ing all communication with those who had diseased animals ;
deeply burying in remote places those which died, previously
slashing the skins ; disinfecting the stables with chloride of

^ Recueil de Med. Veter., September, 1840. For an account of this outbreak
and a general sketch of the disease, see Ddafond. Traite sur la Maladie de
Poitrine du Gros Betail, connue sous Ic noni de PMpnmmonie Contggieuse. Pans,
1844.

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 429

lime ; washing the wood-work and utensils with a solution of
the same ; and whitewashing the walls with lime.^

This destructive contagion also prevailed to a serious extent
in the Cantons Vaud and Fribourg, Switzerland, from Feb-
ruary, 1840, to the same month in 1842. M. de la Harpe, of
Lausanne, gives a very good description of it : ' In the month
of February, 1840, the disease showed itself in the village of
Villars-le-Comte, in the neighbourhood of Moudon. Previous
to that time it had not been recognised, nor had the authorities
been apprised of its existence, partly because the animals were
attacked one after another and not simultaneously, and partly
because it did not make a decided appearance until several
weeks after the animals had. become infected. During Feb-
ruary many cows fell victims to this malady, and the flayer,
or skinner, found in all of them traces of inflammation of the
chest. A cow that was sold to a person in Denezy, a neigh-
bouring village, carried the disease thither and died. From
that time the disease has prevailed uninterruptedly to the
present moment (1842), creeping slowly but fatally from one
beast to another, and from one stable to another. The last-
named place lost so great a number of cattle, that all the
proprietors of stock have resolved to slaughter every animal
that exhibited the least symptom of disease, as the only means
of putting a stop to the ravages of this insidious foe. The
village of Villars-le-Comte was more fortunate, the disease
disappearing of its own accord in the month of May. The
explanation of this probably may be that the peasants in this
poor place rarely had more than one cow each, and this they
got rid of as soon as they observed any suspicious appearance
about her. A cow from Denezy was, in the month of May,
taken to the market at Romond, and there sold to a native of
Friburg, who sent her to the Alps for the summer. She was
turned out on an elevated mountain meadow in June, where
she became ill and died. This excited no suspicion until
July, when another cow belonging to the same person, who
possessed about eighty head of cattle, also sickened and died.

1 H. Mathieu. Recueil de Med. Veter., 1838.

430 History of Animal Plagues.

After this the cases of disease and death became so numerous,
that information was given to the proper authorities.

'The first veterinary surgeon who was called in did not
recognise the disease. Others, however, who had seen it in
the neighbouring country pronounced it to be infectious, and
recommended that the whole of the herd should be slaughtered.
Fortunately, the mountain was in some degree isolated, and
therefore there was reason to hope that the malady was as yet
confined to the limits of this person's property.

' In September all the animals were slaughtered, except
two, one -of which had been taken to a neighbouring mountain
in July, and the other was led back to the meadow a few days
before the slaughter. The former soon became ill and died,
but not before it had infected a considerable number of the
forty beasts with which it had come in contact, and which
herd it soon became necessary to think of destroying.
Eventually, through this one animal, one hundred and twenty
head of cattle died or were destroyed. On post-mortem
examination many of them were found to be badly diseased,
though, while alive, they appeared to be in perfect health. The
second beast that had been spared was now sought for, and
found in a stable among six other cows. The College of
Health at Friburg resolved to test the infectiousness or non-
infectiousness of this disease. A man therefore was appointed
to tend this animal only, and was to approach none of the
others. After the lapse of a few weeks the cow next to the
suspected beast became ill, and eventually died of inflamma--
tion of the chest and lungs. Orders were given immediately
to slaughter all the other cows whicli were in the stable, and
it was found that the one that had first been taken ill was
exceedingly infected, its next neighbour not so much, and the
two that had been farthest off were quite healthy. One of the
diseased cows was six months advanced in pregnancy, and
the lungs of the foetus had already begun to be diseased.

' From this period the canton of Friburg began to be
regarded as free from contagion, and all quarantine regula-
tions were removed.

' In October, a cow was found labouring under this disease

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 431

in Bulle, a place situated at the foot of the infected mountain.
The authorities, having been informed of this, had three other
cows belonging to the same stable slaughtered, two of which
were already infected. The first of these four animals had
been shut up in a stall next to that in which the before-
mentioned second of the beasts passed one night on its way
from the mountain ; but the two had never come into imme-
diate contact with each other. In the Canton of Waadt the
disease seemed to have confined itself to Denezy, if we
except the case of a young heifer that had been bought,
and, as it seemed wasting away, was slaughtered. It was
found to have inflammation of the chest ; but the disease had
appeared under such a chronic form that the veterinary surgeon
did not believe it to be the contagious malady.

Pathological Anatomy. — i. I am of opinion that the disease
is a more or less acute or chronic inflammation of the dia-
phragm, the pleura, and the prolongations by which they are
united to the lobes of the lungs. This inflammation appears,
however, soon to pass away from the pleura, and even from
every part connected with it, and it is that circumstance which
has caused many French veterinary surgeons to be of opinion
that it occasionally has its seat only in the lungs, and that
the pleura is not at all affected. 2. That the inflammation is
not communicated from the pleura to the parietes of the lungs,
but to the vessels which run between the prolongations of
them, and which are thus obstructed, partly by the coagula-
tion of so much blood in the veins and arteries, and partly by
the accumulation of phlegm in the branches of the trachea.
3. That the hepatization and hardening of the texture of the
lungs is a consequence of the obstruction of the small vessels
of that organ, and hence arises that extraordinary thickening
of the parenchyma. 4. That in the larger vessels wherein I
have observed the process of obstruction, a small polypus
or fibrinous concretion will be found, wherever the inflamma-
tion has been more than usually intense. This concretion
becomes the focus around which the coagulation extends
itself on every side. Each point of adhesion has always a
centre of white fibrous matter. The free coagulation is black.

1

43^ History of Animal Plagues.

The arteries and veins of the lungs become obstructed in a
similar manner. 5. A similar process of coagulation takes
place in the bronchi. A white jelly-like coagulation is first
of all formed in them, which afterwards gradually hardens into
masses. These approach each other by degrees, become still
harder, acquire a reddish tint from the admixture of a little
exuded blood, obstruct the bronchi, attach themselves to the
sides of these, and end by becoming incorporated with them.
I am perfectly convinced that this is no plastic exudation
of the mucous membrane, for the freshly coagulated matter
floats about in the bronchi in cylindrical forms, almost resem-
bling dew-worms.

'As I have said before, it was on the 8th of October, 1840,
that the existence of contagious pleuro-pneumonia was first
observed in the village of Denezy. From that time the
strictest regulations were adopted, in order to prevent all
communication between the infected animals and those in
the neighbourhood and the surrounding districts. About the
time of the introduction of these regulations, three cows
were killed in one stable, all of which were found to have been
infected. A few days afterwards the disease was observed to
be breaking out in another stable. Orders were given that
all the beasts in it should be slaughtered, and this was done
on the 22nd of October. Eight animals were destroyed, and
on a post-mortem examination all proved to be infected.
On the same day, a cow in a third stable was observed to be
ill ; it was destroyed on the 19th of November, and found to
be affected by the disease; two other beasts in the same
stable were also destroyed, and found to be infected. Each
stable was thoroughly cleansed, fumigated, and purified, after
the animals had been destroyed, and no others were placed in
it until the disease subsided. On the loth December a heifer
in a neighbouring village, that three months before had been
pastured among some cows at Denezy, was taken ill, and, on
being destroyed, was found to be infected with pleuro-pneu-
monia. In this animal the disease had assumed quite a
chronic form. The lungs were of a whitish-red colour, and
the cellular spaces between them were filled with a clear

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 433

citron-coloured serum. The bronchi were obstructed by-
white and red coagulations of blood. The vessels contained
very small pale-coloured clots of blood. The stable in which
this animal stood was immediately shut up, and still remains
so. The contagion spread no farther there. On the nth of
December a cow in a fifth stall was taken ill, and exhibited
every symptom of contagious pleuro-pneumonia. On the
22nd and 23rd of December six beasts were destroyed in
another stable; and lastly, on the 2nd of January, 1841,
another beast, in a seventh stable, was slaughtered, which
proved to be diseased. A general slaughter of all the cattle
in the village was now ordered \ for the uninterrupted progress
of the disease and its extension, notwithstanding the utmost
care and strictness in following up the police regulations,
proved too clearly the necessity for this severe measure. The
slaughter was not, however, proceeded witii in such haste as
not to allow the cattle-owners time to derive some profit from
the sale of the meat of those animals that were sound. The
diseased ones were all buried. The skins were sent to the
tan-pit after having been well prepared with lime.

' Of the seventy-six beasts which, at the time of the
slaughter, belonged to the inhabitants of the village, fifty-one
were sound and twenty- five were slightly diseased. Two calves
had died a few days previously, but not of pleuro-pneumonia.
The cattle-owners .received a compensation of three-quarters
of the value of a sound animal, and half the value of a diseased
one. The stables were after this, without exception, subjected
to a thorough purification and fumigation. The plaster was
all pulled down, the old wood burnt, and the new washed
with chloride of lime ; the litter was taken away, everything
approaching to putrefaction carefully removed, and the walls
washed by means of a fire-engine.

'Besides the anatomical alterations which I have already
described, and which were more or less apparent in every
slaughtered beast, the veterinary surgeon who resided at
Denezy remarked the following morbid appearances : In many
cases the chronic pneumonia was associated with tubercles.
In several of the animals the disease was in its first stage, and

28

434

History of Animal Plagties.

then it was found that the parts originally affected were the
borders of the diaphragm, the lobes of the lungs, and chiefly
the anterior one, the middle and smaller ones being less
affected. In other animals, where the disease had made more
progress, numerous tubercles were found ; these gradually
softened, and collections of purulent fluid were then formed.
In most of them the pleura was thickly covered with plastic
exudations. In a few, wide patches of a brown and blue
colour were observed, which corresponded with those parts
of the lungs that had suffered most from hepatization. In
some cattle the lungs appeared to be larger than they are
in healthy animals. The veterinary surgeon also stated that
this disease ran its course very slowly, and frequently was
not perceptible in the living animal until it had reached its
height.

' I have examined some portions of lung taken from animals
that seemed, while living, scarcely at all affected, and found
that in all of them the alterations caused by contagious
pleuro-pneumonia were more or less apparent. The changes
uniformly appeared to be of recent date, and not one showed
any trace of previous inflammation of the chest, still less of
false membranes. The prolongations between the lobes of
the lungs were neither thickened nor filled with serum, as I
had previously invariably found them. Around the inflamed
parts the bronchi contained polypoid concretions of a whitish-
red colour, tinged extremely with blood. These concretions
were seldom attached to the mucous membrane. In other
parts the bronchi were simply coloured by a fibrinous and
bloody mucus. The parenchyma of the diseased parts wa"
marbled, of a dark-red colour, filled with blood, and more or
less hepatized. The red spots consisted of patches of a dark
red-brown colour (a simple collection of blood, with hepatiza
tion), or of bright-red (inflammation and red hepatization), ot
of rose-colour verging into white (inflammation degenerating^
into' white hepatization). This last species of hepatization
appeared to me to be altogether peculiar to contagious pleuro
pneumonia. The blood which passes into the parenchym
of the lungs becomes gradually decomposed, and loses its cor

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 435

puscular and colouring properties ; while the white corpuscles
and the fibrine coagulate, remain adhering to the parenchyma,
and gradually form a firm white mass. In my opinion the polypi
in the bronchi arise from the same cause and in the same
manner. Most of the arteries and veins contain blackish clots
of blood, here and there tinged with other colours ; these clots
are elastic, and not adherent to the sides of the vessels. In one
of the lungs the pneumonic disease had assumed a very
peculiar character. The collection of blood was diversified
by spots of a dark reddish hue, and somewhat resembling
ecchymosis, varying in size from that of the head of a pin to
a hazel-nut. These spots united themselves at different points,
and, in one lobe, covered it completely with a dark-brown mass
of hyperaemia. The centre-point of this half-hepatized lung
was darker and more compact than any of the rest. This
kind of pleuro-pneumonia differed entirely from any that I had
previously observed.

' When the cattle were slaughtered, the farmers and owners
requested that orders might also be given to destroy the sheep
and goats, and, as this request was seconded by the veterinary
surgeon, the authorities granted it as a measure of precaution.
Hence I was enabled to examine the lungs of fifteen sheep.
Not one of them showed traces of the pleuro-pneumonic
change. In one a slight trace of chronic pneumonia, with
formation of matter and tubercles, was found. Some con-
tained isolated hard tubercles, which were just beginning to
soften. In these latter I found two very extraordinary ap-
pearances : First, that the tubercles do not soften, as is
commonly believed, but suppurate. Many of them which had
reached the size of a pea were carefully cut open. In the
centre was found one or more globules of a yellow hue among
the greyish-white substance of the tubercle. These globules,
when pressed under the finger, turned into a yellow powdery
substance resembling hardened matter. Secondly, several of
these tubercles, when cut open, were found to contain, not
matter, but a small clot of blood, which was lodged in the
middle. This clot could be lifted up and taken out on the
point of a needle. Most of the tubercles containing this clot

28—2

436

History of Animal PlagiLes.

of blood were perfect and uninjured, and adhered firmly to
the surrounding tissue.'^

The verminous affection generally known as the ' gapes,'
appears to have been epizootic among poultry, partridges and
pheasants, particularly in Somersetshire. ' It commences by
something like an attempt to cough, and this increases until
there is a constant gaping for breath in the chickens. For
the most part, those that are fat and in high condition are the
first attacked ; but they are soon cut off, or rapidly dwindle
away. On opening them, it is evident that they have been

destroyed by worms collected in the windpipe They

stick like leeches to the side of the windpipe, and when they
get to a certain size they suffocate the chickens by congre-
gating into a mass , . . , the number varying from five to
fourteen.'^ The poultry in Armagh, Ireland, also died in
large numbers in August.^

An epizooty was 'very prevalent, and almost in every
instance fatal, among pigs in the north of Ireland,'* It was
a form of eruptive fever, which in a short time assumed the
appearance of measles in the human subject, and finally the
whole skin became one universal patch of floridity. The
malady also appeared in county Galway.

M, Puissant gives a long description of an epizooty at
Fontainebleau, which appears to have been a subacute form
of anthrax, the symptoms and pathological appearances of
which are well known. It broke out in September and con-
tinued until November, 1840. It chiefly attacked horses that
had been watered in ponds into which excreta and filth of
every kind had been allowed to drain. Other animals watered
from proper wells did not suffer. The horses affected had
also been subjected to severe labour.^

At Hersfeld, Hesse, Walch observed an epizootic helmin-
thiasis of the intestinal canal in hogs during November and

'^\De La Harpe. Magazin f. d. Gesammte Thierheilkunde, 1842, p. 4.

2 The Veterinarian, vol. xiii. p. 648.

3 The Irish Farmer's and Gardener's Magazine. ■* Ibid.
Puissant. Recueil de Med. Veter. vol. xix. p. 13.

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 437

December. The entozoon (the Echinorynchus gigas) was noted
to have perforated the intestine in several instances.^

The epizootic fever or ' influenza ' of horses, noticed in the
preceding year, prevailed in Germany, England, and France.
In July, Korber observed it at Merseburg, Saxony, among
the cavalry horses. His description is interesting.^ In Eng-
land, the malady appears to have shown itself in September,
and to have diffused itself like, and exhibited similar symp-
toms to, the epidemic influenza. Mr. Wotton, of Tiverton,
says it was extensively prevalent in that locality, attacking
horses at pasture as well as those kept in stables, age making
no difference. It was first observed about the middle of
September. The weather had been generally wet, the atmo-
sphere close and oppressive ; but when frost began to set in
the disease rapidly diminished. Some cases he thought were
due to contagion, but the majority arose without any assign-
able cause. The symptoms were : Loss of appetite ; soreness
and increased heat of the legs ; discharge from the eyes, the
lids of which rapidly became swollen and inverted ; drooping
of the head ; difficult respiration, with evident obstruction in
the frontal sinuses ; great oedema of the limbs ; small tre-
mulous pulse ; unwillingness to move, and attitude like that
of a horse in tetanus. These symptoms increased in intensity
until the fourth or fifth day, the crisis of the disease. Some-
times there occurred a spontaneous diarrhoea. Vigorous
horses suffered no less than those in poor condition, but a
second attack was not observed. Not unfrequently there was
complete prostration of strong animals within three hours
after the earliest symptoms had been noted. Mr. Wotton
believed in the existence of an aerial poison.^

Mr. Spooner, Southampton, says it appeared there in
September, and continued until February. The symptoms

" Walch. Zeitschrift fiir Thierheilkunde, vol. viii. p. 149.

-Korber. Magazin fiir die Gesammte Thierheilkunde, vol. vii. pp. 3, 261. It
is to be observed that in the preceding year this epizooty was later in showing itself
in South than in North Germany, and that it did not appear in England until the
autumn of 1840, but in France it commenced earlier.

•■' Wolton, The Veterinarian, vol. xiv. p. 92.

1

438

History of Animal Plagues.

were, according to this authority, similar to those of the
epizooty of 1836, but with a greater disposition to oedema of
the limbs and prepuce. The weather was not supposed to have
much influence in its production, but some peculiar atmo-
spheric poison was believed to be the cause, as it continued to
prevail during a genial temperature. It was regarded as a
fever sui generis, in which the mucous membranes were con-
siderably affected, and the nervous system greatly deranged.
On the whole, Mr. Spooner believed the disease to be infec-
tious ; though the greater proportion of cases were produced
by an unknown atmospheric cause.^

At Foley, Staffordshire, Mr. Hughes saw the disease in
October. The earliest symptom was great and sudden pros-
tration, so that if the animal was compelled to travel quickly
it would fall ; in addition to the symptoms already enum-
erated, great tenderness was evinced when pressure was made
on the abdomen or region of the flank.^

Mr. Raddal, Plymouth, I'eports, besides the above-mentioned
symptoms, spots of ecchymoses on the nasal membranes of
some, with a ropy, foetid discharge of saliva. The atmosphere
was the cause, and its influence was mainly exerted on the
nervous system. A considerable analogy was thought to
exist between the disease and typhus fever in the human
subject. Local inflammation was only observed in two cases.
This writer makes some judicious remarks on the pathology
of the malady ; and when speaking of its infectiousness, state-
that he had inoculated five healthy horses with the saliva,
tears, blood, etc., of the sick, four of which became affected.
In some patients two distinct attacks were witnessed, the
second being more severe than the first.^

Mr. Tombs, Pershore, had many cases ; it was a milder
form of influenza than that of 1836. It generally terminated
favourably ; though sometimes in blindness, laminitis, and
cutaneous eruptions.*

Mr, Titchmarsh, Bishop's Stortford, viewed the disease as a
general inflammation of the mucous membranes, accompanie

1 spooner. The Veterinarian, vol. xiv. p. 60. - Hughes. Ibid. p. 73-

3 J-;addal. Ibid. p. 76. ■* Tombs. Ibid. p. 80.

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 439

by fever of a peculiar nature. ' It is undoubtedly infectious ;
appears suddenly, while the animal is in apparent good health.
.... The earliest symptoms are : Refusal of food ; hurried
breathing, differing, however, from that which accompanies
inflamed lungs. The sound which is heard as the air passes

through the cavities of the head is singularly unnatural

The g-ait resembles that of a man when under the influence

of intoxicating liquor, and the countenance is anxious

The Schneiderian membrane and that lining the mouth and
covering the tongue are thickly studded with petechiae ; the
breath and fzeces are very foetid ; sometimes voluntary purga-
tion is present, but this is rare ; cough more or less severe,
with soreness of throat, and an enlargement of the neighbour-
ing glands, are general concomitants. It is somewhat singular,
but, upon an average, six cases out of ten suffer from extreme
lameness of the near hind-leg.^

Mr. Baker, Reigate, observed similar symptoms. The dis-
ease was due to some general cause, either originating in or
subsisting in the atmosphere, and depending on its sudden
changes. ' The spread of this epidemic over the country has
been so general, that I cannot believe its rapid propagation
could be caused by intercourse.' The horses most liable to
the disease were post and coach horses. ' I have known it
return on some of those previously affected, and with increased
intensity ; nor do I consider the bare fact of having been once
the subject of its influence or power, in any way secures from
a renewal of the attack.' 2

Mr. Haycock, Huddersfield, noticed two distinct forms of
the malady — a bronchial or nervous, and an oedematous
influenza.3

Mr. Mayer, Newcastle-under-Lyne, first saw the epizooty
in North Staffordshire about the middle of September ; but
the largest number of cases occurred during November and
December. The weather had no influence upon it. It
appeared to be infectious. Sheep were attacked, and pre-
sented the same symptoms.*

Titchmarsh. The Veterinarian, vol. xiv. p. 8o. Baker. Ibid. p. 134.
^Haycock. Ibid. p. 146. Mayer. Ibid. p. 88.

440 History of Animal Plagues.

Mr. Simonds considered it 'a subacute inflammatory affec-
tion of the subcutaneous cellular tissue and the mucous
membrane, accompanied by a fever sui generis, which speedily
passes from its active to its typhoid state.' i

Mr. Read, Crediton, Devonshire, reports in December that
within the previous two or three weeks the epizooty had
attacked the farm and cart horses. Its type was similar to
tnat of 1836-7. Horses at pasture suffered, but were not
more obnoxious to the pest than stabled horses. The summer
had been dry, but little rain having fallen since the end of
l^ebruary. _ ' It is singular that as soon as the rain set in, the
influenza with energy developed itself 2

Mr. Page, Tunbridge Wells, says that the first appearances
dihered much, some horses appearing to be affected with
spasms of the bowels, with a very remarkable twitchin- of
the abdominal muscles; others presenting the ordinary
symptoms. In two or three days the legs swelled enormously
and in some cases emitted a very offensive discharge from the
heels, especially in cart-horses.^

Mr. Darby, of Louth, Lincolnshire, writes in December
1841 : 'We have had in this neighbourhood, for the last three
months, a great deal of influenza ; full as much, I think, as
in 1836; but the precursory symptoms generally are very
different, inasmuch as in this spring a great many of them
are taken with an affection of the spinal column, reeling and
staggering as though the spine was actually injured, with
great swelling of the legs, and extreme prostration of strength.
I have had about three hundred cases, and have only lost one,
and that from effusion in the chest.'*

For Scotland, the Kelso Mail in 1840 says : 'The epidemic
among horses in this neighbourhood has been very general,
and in many cases has terminated fatally.'

In Ireland the epizooty was attentively studied by Professor
Ferguson, of Dublin, who has furnished an excellent, though
detailed, description. As in England, every kind of horse,
whether in stable or depastured, was liable to be affected. It

1 Simonds. The Veterinarian, vol. xiv. p. 92. • Read. Ibid. vol. xiii. p. 702.
^Page. Ibid. vol. xv, p. 560. ^ Darby. Ibid. vol. xiv. p. 702.

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 441

was not believed to be either contagious or infectious, but was
due solely to a peculiar atmospherical condition causing
derangement of the organic system of nerves, more particu-
larly those which influence the mucous membranes, these in
general becoming affected. The symptoms did not differ to
any notable extent from those already enumerated. In two
cases in which the breathing was stertorous, and which were
purposely destroyed, no alterations could be discovered to
account for this symptom. One of the most characteristic
features of the malady was the rapid prostration of strength,
particularly in the hinder extremities.-'^

Mr. Price, Cork, observed that the epizooty in his neigh-
bourhood was very similar to that seen in England in
1835-6.'

In Fi-ance the disease appears to have been prevalent in
the spring of 1 840, and M. Delafond, in an able report to the
Agricultural Society of the Seine, makes us acquainted with
its characteristics in that country : ' There has reigned for two
or three months, among the horses in various parts of France,
and particularly those in Normandy, Perche, Beauce, and
Brie, in the departments of the Seine and the Seine-et-Oise,
as well as among the horses of many regiments of cavalry, a
disease which has assumed an epizootic form. This malady,
often serious from its very commencement, has up to the pre-
sent time destroyed a great number of horses in those places
where it has been, and is now, violently prevalent. It is of
an inflammatory nature, and has its seat either in the lungs
or the intestinal canal. It has some resemblance to the epi-
zootic gastro-enteritis which showed itself among horses in
1825 over the whole of France; but it differs from that
disease, inasmuch as it affects not only the intestinal canal,
but also the lungs. Those which we have seen attacked by it
were for the greater part young and vigorous horses, employed
as diligence or post animals. Many came from Perche and
Beauce ; yet a number affected were carriage and riding
horses, and those used for heavy draught. The majority of
them were ill during the late hot weather, or since the dimin-

^ Fdfguson. The Veterinarian, vol. xiv. p. 241. -Price. Ibid. p. 253.

442 History of Animal Plagues.

ished temperature of the last few months. The animals were
dull, refused to eat, and would not look at their corn ; their
skins lost their usual glossy appearance ; the head was carried
low, and the limbs had not the position or firmness noticeable
in horses which are in good health. Some remained lying for
a certain time, sighed, and looked towards their belly as if
to testify to the intestinal pains they experienced; while
others— and these were the greatest in number— stood and
pawed the ground with their fore-feet. The eyelids were
tumefied, and partially covered the eyes. The palpebral con-
junctiva, was infiltrated, of a bright-red colour, which soon
became a deep-red, and sometimes even a yellowish hue. This
last symptom always indicated the gravity of the disease.
The mouth was hot, and at times dry ; the tongue, without
being pasty, was red at its borders and point ; the abdomen
was often painful on pressure. The loins were insensible, and
the excrementitious matters hard and dry. These symptoms
indicate inflammation of the intestines, and the following
denote pulmonary inflammation : The horse coughs much
and painfully, and the cough is either dry or slightly
humid ; the nostrils are then dry or moist. The respiration
is frequent and short ; and if the thorax is percussed, it is,
found to be painful either on the right or the left side. Aus-
cultation reveals a notable feebleness in the respiratory
murmur, and a loud, crepitant, humid rale in the localities
where inflammation has established itself. The inferior regio-
of the left lung seems to be particularly the seat of peri-
pneumonia. The pulse is small, quick, and soft. Such are
the characteristic symptoms by which recent inflammation o
the pulmonary tissue may be recognised.

'The engorgement of the inferior parts of the members, an
often of the hocks ; the heightened sensibility of one or othe
of the spermatic cords, especially the left ; slight infiltration
of the scrotum ; weakness in walking — these are the auxiliary
pathognomonic symptoms which positively fix the seat of the
disease. The beats or sounds of the heart have nothing remark-
able. The coagulation, separation, and the serous, fibrinous,
or crude proportions of the blood, offer nothing abnormal ; the

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 443

long hairs are not easily pulled out ; the mucous membranes
are not ecchymosed ; in fact, there are no signs to indicate a
disease of the blood.

' The symptoms I have enumerated persist for two or three
days, and if the malady is actively combated by debilitating
measures, convalescence soon sets in ; so that in about eight
days the horses may resume their usual work. But if the
affected receive no attention, the pathological condition
changes, and their state becomes alarming. The eyelids are
very tumefied; the conjunctiva;, of a reddish-brown, soon
assume the tint of saffron. A whitish circle forms around the
transparent cornea, which soon becomes opaque at its circum-
ference ; sometimes the humours of the eye become dim or
troubled. The tongue is a bright-red colour at its free
margins, and becomes pasty. The abdomen is drawn up ; the
respiration very quick, shallow, and short ; and the expired
air hot. The cough is very frequent and painful ; there is a
complete absence of the pulmonary murmur ; a tubular bruit,
a loud, crepitant, humid rale, and perfect dulness on percus-
sion of the thoracic walls, indicating that the inflammatory
engorgement of the lungs has passed into a state of hepatiza-
tion. Then the pulse becomes remarkable by its weakness
and quickness ; the tumefaction of the limbs extends to the
anus and the thighs, and from the prepuce it gains the belly, so
that progression becomes difficult. These symptoms announce
the szcmmuni of intensity, or the height of the disease — a stage
reached in from five to six days. The symptoms become
aggravated from the seventh to the tenth day : the respira-
tion becomes quick, laborious, and suffocative ; the pulse is
small, quick, and scarcely perceptible. Soon the animals
stagger about, fall down, and quickly die.

' Of forty horses which I have treated, both in the hos-
pital of the Alfort College and outside this establishment,
three died. Opened before they had become cold, these are
the appearances I have noticed : The stomach was healthy ;
the intestinal mucous membrane exhibited extended patches
of bright red, with thickening and flaccidity of tissue (this
was especially noted in the middle and duodenal portions of

444 History of Animal Plagues.

the small intestines); the large intestines did not present any

n7notr'?% -^"-^ stLTbrown

and not easily torn, was in these three dead animals very large
heavy, and of a yellow colour ; its tissue was much in'^ectfd

Zr^m^t-T^^^I'T ^'^-^ I-Patic canals

were filled with a thick brownish-black bile. The lungs have

exhibited every phase of inflammation: there it was%ound
conges ed with blood, crepitant, and floating in water • here it
was sohd_, heavy of a deep-red hue, friabl, granui;r Xn
broken-in a word, hepatized. The bronchi have been found
red, injected, and filled with yellow, stringy mucus; their
mal er divisions being, above all in the pulmonary portions,
hepatized, and gorged with this morbid secretion. The costal
diaphragmatic, and mediastinal pleura have not shown any'
traces of mflammation ; only that covering the hepatized lung
has been injected.

'The epizootic disease now reigning among horses appears
to me, then, to be either enteritis, pneumonia, or an entero-
pneumonia. The causes of it cannot be ascribed to the food
given to the horses since the late harvest, because the forage
has been of good quality, and the disease has attacked the
best-fed animals. No more can we seek its etiology in excessive
labour; for the horses which work but little have been affbcted,
as well as those in the infirmaries sufi-ering from lameness. I
know nothing for certain as to the contagious or non-con-
tagious character of the disease. The hot and damp consti-
tution of the air in March, April, and May, the violent
diminutions of temperature alternating, to the present time,
with fine days, appear to be the probable, if not the certain,
causes of the development of the affection. These general
causes, acting on a great number of animals and in many
localities, give at least a satisfactory explanation of the epi-
zootic form the disease has assumed.' ^

Professors Bouley and Renault report : ' During June and
July, there appeared in Paris and its environs a disease among
horses much resembling that which broke out in 1825. At

^Delafond. Recueil dc Med. Vete'r. vol. xviii. p. 465.

Period fro?n A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 445

the commencement, the horses were unusually dull, and soon
and quickly became altogether dispirited. They hung back
in the stable, and could scarcely be induced to touch either
solid or liquid food. The conjunctiva was deeply injected ;
the swollen eyelids covered nearly the whole eye, and by
pressure with the fingers allowed a considerable quantity of
limpid serosity to escape. The vertebral column was exceed-
ingly tender from the shoulder to the croup ; and the animal
shrank to the ground if this part was pressed upon. The
mouth was clammy and somewhat injected ; the pellets of
dung were small and dry, or covered with mucus. The
respiratory movements were scarcely disturbed, but the circu-
lation was considerably affected, the pulse being hard, and
varying from 60 to 70 a minute. Soon afterwards the legs
became very much swollen, and the horse walked with con-
siderable difficulty. When some of the sick animals attempted
to walk, they appeared as if they had laminitis. Towards the
termination of the disease diarrhoea supervened, and then
gradually every symptom disappeared. In from ten to fifteen
days the majority of the sick were in perfect health. Some,
however, had serious complications of pneumonia, which was
extensive and obstinate.'

Professor Rey, who saw the disease in the department of
the Rhone, alludes to it in the Compte Rendu of the Lyons
veterinary school : ' In a medical point of view, the meteoro-
logical phenomena of this year have been peculiarly interest-
ing, particularly in multiplying those diseases in whose pro-
duction the hygrometrical state of the atmosphere has so

much influence A malady similar to the epizooty of

1825 has shown itself in the horse species during the spring
and summer of this year ; asses and mules have been exempt.
In May, June, and July we observed this disease chiefly
attacking those horses submitted to the heavy drudgery of
drawing public carriages. Those performing slow work,
private carriage or farm horses, have been but slightly affected.
In the 1 2th regiment of artillery, it only attacked four horses
belonging to officers, and no disease has been observed among
the market horses.

446

History of Animal Plagues.

' It has not been possible to observe anygreater predisposition
in the horses imported from the north than in other horses,
the importation being almost nil. The mares have suffered
in largest proportion. The causes appear to us to have
resided in meteorological phenomena : The exposure to sud-
den changes of temperature, and the almost constant pre-
valence of north-west winds ; the middling or bad quality of
the forage has had no influence ; few subjects badly fed have
been affected, but in the majority of cases the attacked have
been in a satisfactory condition, and fat when first seized.
Up to the present time we do not believe in the existence of
contagion, but rather in the influence of the same causes on
animals submitted to the same regime, to the same labour.
In twelve horses working in public vehicles on a hilly road,
ten were affected, and one died after a relapse ; but this fact
did not establish its contagious character. In two establish-
ments having each sixty-five omnibus horses, one had only
four sick and the other two, and in such a way that the
agglomeration of the animals in the same stables could not
be regarded as one of the occasional causes ; none have con-
tracted the affection in the hospital of the college.

' It is, perhaps, well to preserve here the t&xm gasiro-conjimc-
tivitis which was given by M. Rainard to the gastric fever
observed in 1825. Yet most frequently, with the exception
of the dryness and the heat of the mouth, the digestive organs
appeared to be but little affected ; in many cases the sick horses
have retained their appetite ; the belly was not tense ; the
dejections showed their ordinary characters ; and the gastric
phlegmasia has not always predominated. The state of the
eyes gives the most striking, and_, in many cases, the first
observed symptoms ; the eyelids are swollen, and the con-
junctiva of a red, rarely of a yellow tint. The globe of the
eye offers important characters ; sometimes the whole of the
cornea becomes suddenly opaque and white, as is frequently
witnessed in the distemper of young dogs ; at other times the
cornea, preserving its transparency, permits us to see the limpid
aqueous humour, but with a greenish tint, which disappears in
a few hours, and from the centre towards the circumference.

Period from A.D. 1836 to A.D. 1840. 447

In two-thirds of the diseased, symptoms are shown of phleg-
masia of the respiratory organs, such as pain in the throat,
a frequent and difficult cough, a humid tracheal bruit, dis-
charge by the nostrils of a white semi-transparent mucus ; a
crepitant rale, etc. The horses which exhibit symptoms
of pneumonia cannot lie down, though they move and stand
with much difficulty ; their pulse is small and wiry ; nothing
abnormal is noticed in the sounds of the heart ; there are no
cerebral symptoms, but in general the disease shows itself in
a simple form, and ceases in from the fifth to the eighth day.
Its termination has been rarely fatal. The Lyonnais veter-
inarians assure me that none of their patients have succumbed,
and perhaps they regard as quite another disease the com-
plication produced by the development of the pulmonary
phlegmasia. Out of a hundred sick horses confided to my
care, three have perished. Two of these have offered the
signs and lesions of pleuro-pneumonia ; on opening a third
the thoracic organs were found little altered, but floating in
some quarts of serosity ; in the abdomen, however, the redness
of the stomach, the presence of a greyish mucus, the leaden
tint of the mucous membrane lining the small intestines, the
caecum, and a portion of the colon, accounted for what was
observed during the first days of illness — marked debility ;
the extremities were swollen to a great size, the scrotum was
infiltrated with serum, and an oedematous tumour formed
beneath the belly.' ^

^ Rey. Recueil de Med. Vet^r. vol. xviii. p. 757.

448

CHAPTER V.

PERIOD FROM A.D. 1840 TO A.D. 1842.

A.D. 1841. In this and the previous year, glanders prevailed in
a peculiarly violent form among the French Military Train
horses in Algeria. In 1840, one thousand nine hundred
perished out of a strength of two thousand four hundred ; and
in this year as many as two thousand were lost.i And Mr.
Macpherson, writing from Dum Dum, near Calcutta, says that
glanders and farcy were very prevalent among the troop-
horses, especially in the rainy season. Besides, tubercular
deposits in the lungs, abscess, and softening of the ribs were
found after death. No case of infection had occurred in the
human species.^

Rabies canina was epizootic at Vienna.

In the circle of Bittburg, government of Treves, variola
was present in an epizootic form among young hogs.^ In the
following year the same malady was observed among hogs at
Kissiten, near Bartenstein, Prussia.* In Bohemia, variola ovina
was epizootic.5

In New Granada, small-pox was very prevalent and fatal in
mankind. Quadrumanous animals appear to have suffered
from this disease a short time previously. A gentleman
travelling through the forests in the province of Veragna, says:
' I left the town of St. Jago, on the western coast, for David,
in Chiriqui, a town in the interior, about sixty miles to the
north-east (and leeward) of St. Jago. The small-pox was

^ Wirth. Op. cit. p. 419. - The Veterinarian, vol. xiv. p. 439.

^ Leichier. Magazin fiir Thierheilkunde, vol. x. p. 112. ■* Ibid. p. 98.

^ CEsterreich. Med. Jahrbuch, 1842, p. 77.

Period from A.D. 1840 to A.D. 1842. 449

raging with great violence in St. Jago, but there was no ap-
pearance of it in David. A few days after my arrival there,
taking my customary ride in the forest, which teems with
animal life, I was struck by observing one or two sick and
apparently dying monkeys on the ground under the trees.
The next morning I was struck by the same singular appear-
ance (for it is very unusual to find a wild animal sick ; they
instinctively hide themselves), and by thinking that I perceived
several on the trees, moping or moving about in a very
languid and sickly manner. I consequently dismounted and
examined two which were on the ground — one dead, and the
other apparently dying; and after careful examination, no
doubt remained on my mind that they were suffering and had
died from small-pox. They presented every evidence of the
disease ; the pustules were perfectly formed, and in one in-
stance (that of the dying one) the animal was nearly quite
blind from the effects. A few days afterwards (I think about
four or five days) the first case of small-pox appeared amongst
the inhabitants of David, and in the course of a fortnight
one-half of the population was stricken.'^

It is a fact that quadrumanous creatures are very susceptible
to the spontaneous and artificial transmission of variola, but
I am not aware that the disease had as yet been observed in an
epizootic form among these animals, and particularly during its
prevalence as an epidemy. Our history has shown that many
species of creatures have their special variola, and some-
times in a general manner. The horse has its small-pox— a
pustular eruption, attacking the limbs more particularly, though
not unfrequently the lips, nostrils, and eyes, and at times
manifesting itself in more than one subject. Inoculation with
the contents of these pustules or vesicles has given rise to
vaccina in the cow, and is capable of affecting mankind. The
disease has also been transmitted to other horses by natural
infection and by inoculation. Vaccine lymph and the virus
of horse-pox have been successfully transplanted to the
heels of horses, and these again have yielded a material which,
on being transferred to mankind and other creatures, has

1 Anderson. Lectures on Fever. Medical Times and Gazette, August i6, 1862 .

29

450

History of Animal Plagues.

comported itself like vaccine. The bovine species has been
affected with its variola from the very earliest times, and its
appearance in an epizootic form, according to some writers,
has not been unfrequent. Several observers think it may
appear primarily in an epizootic character, but Heusinger
and others doubt this, and maintain (i) that variola does not
originate in any of the lower animals, but that, when it has
shown itself in them, it has been transmitted from the human
species ; (2) that the variola of one species of animal passes to
the other — from man to the inferior creatures, and vice versd.

Trustworthy authorities, however, maintain that vaccina
is developed directly in the cow, and can be transmitted
by natural contagion and inoculation to animals of the
same species, and also by inoculation to other domestic
creatures and to mankind. It is a singular circumstance that
the predisposition to the spontaneous development of the
malady in the bovine species should chiefly exist in the female
animals, and seldom has been noted in the males, although the
latter are susceptible to its influences by inoculation ; and
that cows which have recently calved are most frequently
attacked — probably owing to the determination of blood to
the mammary gland, which is the special seat of the eruption.
It has been observed that the cow-pox has sometimes been
prevalent while small-pox was general in mankind, and in-
stances are recorded of cows having taken the disease by mere
contact with the linen of small-pox patients. Distinct vaccine
vesicles are also said to have been produced in the cow by in-
oculating with the matter of human small-pox. But patho-
logical and experimental facts are entirely opposed to the
supposed identity of human variola and vaccina.

Though the variolous maladies of the domestic animals,
and perhaps even the small-pox of man, were apparently
unknown to the Greeks and Romans; and though, after
human variola had been fully recognised in Europe for some
hundreds of years, that of animals had not been observed ;
yet in Asia in ancient times, in South America for several
centuries, and even among some European nations for a long
period, it had been known that the vaccine disease was some-

Period fi'om A.D. 1840 to A.D. 1842. 451

times communicated to man, and that this infection was a
guarantee against an attack of small-pox.i In those countries
where the camel is domesticated, the ' variola camelina ' is not
unknown, and for long ages its capability of transmission,
accidentally or artificially, to man has been noted.2

^Mr. Bruce, a resident at Bushire in 1S13, in a communication to the Medical
and Physical Society of Bombay, speaks of a disease in Persia which is contracted
by such as milk the cattle and sheep, and which was known to be a preventive of
small-pox. ' When I was in Bombay, I mentioned that the cow-pox was well-
known in Persia to the Eliaats, or wandering tribes. Since my return here, I have
made very particular inquiries on this subject among several dififerent tribes, who
visit this place in the winter to sell the produce of their flocks. . . . Eveiy Eliaat
that I have spoken to on this head, of at least six or seven different tribes, has
uniformly told me that the people who are employed to milk the cattle caught a
disease, which, after once having had, they were perfectly safe from the small-pox ;
that this disease was prevalent among the cows, and showed itself particularly on
the teats, but it was more prevalent and more frequently caught from the sheep.
Now this is a circumstance that has never, I believe, before been known, and of
the truth of it I have not the smallest doubt, as the persons of whom I inquired
could have no interest in telling me a falsehood. To be more sure on the subject,
I made most particular inquiry of a most respectable farmer. . . . This man con-
firmed everything that the Eliaats had told me ; and further said that the disease
was very common all over the country, and that his own sheep very often had it.
There may be one reason for the Eliaats saying that they caught the infection
oftener from the sheep than the cows, which is that most of the butter, ghee, cheese,
etc., is made from the sheep's milk, and that the black cattle yield very little, being
more used for draught than anything else.'— Transactions of the Literary Society of
Bombay, vol. i.

Mr. Gibson, in his Sketch of the Province of Guzerat, published in 1838,
mentions the frequency and fatality of variola among the natives, and says that the
same disease is at times very fatal among cattle ; they become so weak and feverish
as to be unable to eat, in consequence of the pustular eruption on the lips, tongue
and throat. This malady is frequently referred to and well described in the Trans-
actions of the Medical and Physical Society of Bombay. See also the Medical
Times and Gazette for January 13, 1866, p. 45.

2 Mr. Mason, who travelled in Kelat, says with regard to camel small-pox : ' In
the province of Lus, along the sea-coast south-west of Karachi, of which Bella
is the capital, and Sommeeanee the seaport, the milkers of camels affirm that
they have a disease called " Photo-shootur." Small-pox in Lus is designated
" Photo;" so that "Photo-shootur" implies the small-pox of the camel, which is
an eruption on the udder of that animal, not more violent than, and in its pustule
similar to, that on the udder of the cow. The camels which are thus affected con-
tinue to give milk, which is largely drunk by the inhabitants ; but both the men
and the women who milk them are invariably seized with a pustular disease, similar
to that of the camel's udder on their hands and arms, never extending above the
elbows. No one has ever been known to die from this eruption, and the natives
themselves remark that those who have had the " Photo-shootur" are uniformly
exempt from the small-pox, which is a disease occasionally endemic in the district
Inoculation is known in Lus, the virus being taken from a person labouring with

29—2

452

History of Animal Plagues.

It has been conclusively shown that goats have their special
form of variola ; and the many instances cited of these animals
having caught the infection of small-pox from sheep, and the
facility with which they became inoculated with vaccine matter,
has led to the inference that they might at times suffer from
the disease in an epizootic form, which they really do. Roll
admits that the disease in them is excessively rare, and that
it maybe developed in a direct manner, without previous con-
tamination. It affects the teats, as in the cow ; and the
pustules, though smaller, bear a very close resemblance to
those observed in that animal.

The variola of pigs {yariolce suUIcb) has been known as of
frequent occurrence for a long time, and two instances have
already been adduced for this year. Viborgi mentions its
appearing epizootically during epidemics of variola in man-
kind ; and Reuling^ testifies to pigs suffering much from the
malady while sheep were affected with variola. Inoculation
with the virus of human small-pox is reported to have been
successful in the pig.^ The disease more particularly attacks
the head, neck, chest, and belly, as well as the inner aspect of
the thighs. Although its direct development, without previous
contamination, is admitted, yet it would appear that trans-
mission by infection is the most frequent cause. The variola
of the pig has been transmitted to man and to the goat. An
attack confers immunity.

According to Lullin,* sheep have been infected by the
variola of man ; and Toggia^ says by the variolae of other
animals. Goats, dogs, and rabbits have been infected by

small-pox, and inserted on the wrist of healthy individuals (children), who, if the
operation is successful, which is not always the case, are seized with small-pox not
limited to the hand and arm, but general over the body, commonly mild, yet fatal
in some cases. Although the inhabitants are aware that " Photo-shootur " is a
preventive against small-pox, they do not inoculate with its virus in a manner
similar to what they do from the small-pox pustule, which frequently brings on a
disease believed by these people to be beyond the power of the native doctors,
insomuch that the relatives of the sick proceed to the shrine of some favoured
saint, there, by propitiatory offerings, to invoke aid in favour of the disease.' —
Transactions of the Medical and Physical Society of Bombay, 1840.

1 Viborg. Erz. d. Schwein. ^ Reuluig. Beschreibung von Nordheim.

3 Viborg. Magazin fur d. Thierheilkunde, vol. ix. p. 58.

*■ Lullin. Observations sur les Betes i Laine. ° Toggia. Mai de' Buoi.

Period from A.D. 1840 to A.D. 1842. 453

sheep, and Godine is said to have successfully transplanted the
small-pox of man to that animal.

The small-pox of dogs {variolcs canines) we have already-
noticed. It is admitted that it may be developed either
directly or as a consequence of contagion, and by the virus of
human variola or that of the sheep, but this requires confir-
mation. One attack confers immunity.

The transmission of the disease from man to the cat has
not, I believe, been often reported ; but yet there are one or
two striking examples among my notes which would go far to
prove that such an accident is possible. For instance, I find
that Leigh specially alludes to an occurrence of this kind,
in the following terms : ' Before I close my observations on
quadrupeds, I thought it not amiss to insert two instances,
they being not only unusual, but of great importance. The
first is of two persons who, in a small cottage near Bury in
Lancashire, died of the small-pox. During the whole of their
sickness, two cats for the most part lay upon the same beds
with the patients. In a little time after these persons had
expired, both the cats fell sick, with the usual symptoms
of the small-pox, and regularly proceeded to the state of
eruption and maturation, with pustules exactly like those in
human-kind ; at last those subsided, and afterwards both the
cats died. By this instance it is evident the small-pox is not
a distemper peculiar only to human-kind.' ^

That domestic poultry are not exempt from variola, is a
very ancient belief ; and it has been imagined that the pre-
sence of this malady in the feathered tribes gave rise to the
mythical story of the Arabian writers, to the effect that the
Ababil birds infected the Abyssinian army with small-pox in
A.D. 572. The ancient Egyptians were well aware that geese
suffered from epizootic diseases, but they did not seem to
have been cognisant of the fact that pigeons were ever dis-
eased. The wealthier classes were extremely fond of goose
flesh, which they thought the most delicate of all other kinds ;
but as soon as an epizooty showed itself among the geese, that

J Leigh. Natural History of Lancashire, Cheshire and the Peak. Oxford,
1700, part ii. p. 7.

454

History of Animal Plagues.

of pigeons only was consumed, as they were considered the
purest and never liable to disease, even when all other crea-
tures were sufifering. Horapolloi is the authority for this
statement, and Frank,^ in quoting his words, adds, that
probably in Egypt at that time, pigeons were not affected
with a kind of small-pox, as they are nowadays with us.
Heusinger thinks that if in Ancient Egypt this disease of
pigeons was unknown, whereas it is now common in every
country, especially in warm regions, it would be a most
important fact in the history of disease. Elsewhere we have
spoken of the variolous affections of birds.^

In this and the succeeding year two curious instances of
disease are recorded, arising, it would seem, from the effects
of the honeydew and mildew* of plants, and which affected

^ Horapollonis. Hieroglyphics, vol. i. p. 57. Frank. System, d. Med. Poliz.

'For further details on this very interesting subject, see my treatise, 'Human
and Animal Varioloe : A Study in Comparative Patholog)',' London, 18S1.

^ The term ' mildew ' is one often, very often, found in connection with the
subject of famine and disease, and, therefore, of some interest to the student of
epidemic and epizootic visitations. Mr. Cooke's popular treatise on the ' Micro-
scopic Fungi ' affords us some excellent observations on the proper meaning and
limits of the term. He says : ' Four diseases in wheat of fungal origin are
known and recognised in the popular language of the farm as " mildew," " rust,"
"smut" and "bunt." Sometimes one and sometimes another is most prevalent,
and he is an exceedingly fortunate individual who can walk through his fields
and find only one of them, especially if that one should be sparingly distributed.
It has been our good fortune to dwell much amongst corn-fields, and the teiTor
of the word "mildew" to a farmer's ears is not unfamiliar in our reminiscences
of the past. . . . Mildew is just one of those loose terms which represent no
definite idea, or a very different one to different individuals. Talk of mildew
to a farmer, and instantly he scampers mentally over his fields of standing corn
in search of the brown lines or irregular spots which indicate the unwelcome
presence of Piicci7tia graminis, known to him, and to generations of farmers
before him, as "mildew." Try to convince a Norfolk farmer that anything else
is "mildew," and he will consider you insane for your pains. Speak of mildew
in your own domestic circle, and inquire of wives, or daughters, or servants what
it means, and without hesitation another, and even more minute species of fungus,
which attacks damp linen, will be indicated as the true mildew, to the exclusion
of all others, and with equal claims to antiquity. Go to Farnham, or any other
hop-growing district, and repeat there your question — ^What is mildew? — and
there is every probability that you will be told that it is a kind of mould which
attacks the hop plant, but which differs as much from both the mildew of the
farmer and the laundry-maid, as they differ from each other. The vine-grower
has his mildew, the gardener his mildewed onions, the stationer hi? mildewed
paper from damp cellars, the plasterer his mildewed walls ; and in almost every
calling or sphere in life, wherever a minute fungus commits its ravages upon stock,

Period from A.D. 1840 to A.D. 1842. 455

more particularly the white skins of horses. Both observa-
tions are reported from Germany. H. Steiner, of Gumbinnen,

crop, or chattels, to that individual owner it becomes a bugbear under the name
of " mildew." Here it must be limited in its application to the ".mildew of corn,
known to botanists as Ptcccinia graminis, and not to include the numerous other
microscopic fungi to which the name of mildew is often applied. The origm of this
term and its true application may undoubtedly be traced to mehl-thau, "meal dew.
A singular proof of the ignorance which prevails in regard to all the fungal diseases
of corn, may be found in the fact that at least one of our best etymological
dictionaries states that the viildnu in corn is the same as the ergot of the French.
Had the writer ever been a farmer, he would have known the difference ; had he
ever seen the two, he could scarcely have made such a mistake. How long this
disease has been known is an unsolved problem. About the middle of the last
century a tract was pubUshed on this subject in Italy, but this was probably not
even the first intimation of its fungoid character. Before such conclusion had been
arrived at, men may have struggled in the dark, through many generations, to
account for a phenomenon with which they were doubtless familiar in its effects.

. With a view to the clearer understanding of these parasites in the phases of
their development, let us select one, and we cannot do better than adhere to tha,t
of the whea't and other graminaceous plants. . . . Having reached the field, it
may be premised that a walk into it of less than twenty yards will be sure to reward
you with the fungus we are in quest of. Look down at the green leaves, especially
the lower ones, and you will soon find one apparently grown rusty. The surface
appears to be sprinkled with powdered red ochre, and grown sickly under the
operation. The cuticle is traversed with numerous longitudinal cracks or fissures,
within which, and about their margins, you discern an orange powder, to which the
rusty appearance of the leaf is due. Further examination reveals also portions in
which the cuticle is distended into yellowish elongated pustules, not yet ruptured,
and which is an earlier stage of the same disease. This is the " rust " of the
agriculturist, the Trichobasis rubigo-vera of botanists, the first phase of the com-
mildew. , . . The vegetative system of the "rust," and similar fungi, consists of
a number of delicate, simple, or branched threads, often intertwining and anasto-
mosing, or uniting one to the other by means of lateral branchlets. These threads,
termed the mycelium, penetrate the intercellular spaces, and insinuate themselves
in a complete network, amongst the cells of which the leaf or other diseased por-
tion of the plant is composed. We may regard the whole mycelium of one pustule,
or spore-spot, as the vegetative system of one fungal plant. At first this mycelium
might have originated in a number of individuals, which afterwards became con-
fluent and combined into one for the production of fruit, that is to say, an indefinite
number of points in the vicinity of the future mycelium developed threads ; and
these, in the process of growth, interlaced each other, and ultimately, by means of
transverse processes, became united into one vegetative system, in which the in-
dividuality of each of the elementary threads became absorbed, and by one com-
bined effort a spore-spot, or cluster of fruit, was produced. In the first instance a
number of minute, transparent, colourless cellules are developed from the mycelium:
these enlarge, become filled with an orange-coloured endochrome, and appear
beneath the cuticle of the leaf as yellowish spots. As a consequence of this increase
in bulk, the cuticle becomes distended in the form of a pustule, over the yellow
cellules, and at length, unable longer to withstand the pressure from beneath.

456 History of Animal Plagues.

says that the disease in question was general in that
district, and in a part of the districts of Insterburg and

ruptured in irregular, more or less elongated fissures, and the yellow bodies now
termed spores (whether correctly so, we do not at present inquire), break from their
short pedicels and escape, to the naked eye presenting the appearance of an orantre
or rust-coloured powder. In this stage the spores are globose, or nearly so, and
consist of bu one cell. A month or two later in the season, rusty leaves and leaf-
sheaths have become even more common than before. A little careful examination
and, here and there, we shall find a leaf or two with decidedly brown pustules
intermixed with .the rusty ones, or, as we have observed several times during the
past autumn, the pustules towards the apex reddish brown. If we remove from
the browner spots a little of the powder, by means of a sharp-pointed knife, and
place it m a drop of water or alcohol on a glass slide, and after covering with a
thin square of glass, submit it to examination under a quarter-inch objective a
different series of forms will be observed. There will still be a proportion of su'b-
globose, one-celled, yellow spores ; but the majority will be elongated, most with
pedicels or stalks, if they have been carefully removed from the leaf, and either
decidedly two-celled, or with an evident tendency to become so. The two cells
are separated by a partition or dissepiment, which divides the original cell trans-
versely into an upper and lower cell, with an external constriction in the plane of
the dissepiment. These bilocular or two-celled spores are those of the "corn-
mildew" {Pticcinia graminis), which may be produced in the same pustules, and
from the same mycelium as the "corn-rust," but which some mycologists consider
to be a distinct fungus, others only a modification or stage of the same fungus
When the corn is nearly or fully ripe, or when looking over any bundle of straw
we shall find blackish spots, from the size of a pin's head to an inch in length'
mostly on the sheaths of the leaves, often on the culm itself. This is the fully-
developed mildew, and when once seen is not likely afterwards to be confounded
with any other parasite on straw. The closely-packed tufts or masses of spores,
when examined with a common lens, seem at first to resemble the minute sorus of
some species of fern ; but when seen with higher powers, the apparent resemblance
gives place to something very different. The tufts consist of multitudes of stalked
bodies, termed spores, which are constricted in the middle and narrowed towards
either extremity. The partition or septum, thrown across the spore at the con-
striction, separates it into two portions, each of which consists of a cell-wall
enclosing an inner vesicle filled with the endochrome or granular contents, in
which a nucleus may often be made out. This species of Puccinia is very common
on all the cereals cultivated in this country, and on many of the grasses. There is
no doubt in the minds of agriculturists, botanists, savants, and farm-labourers, that
the mildew is very injurious to the corn crop. Different opinions may exist as to
how the plants become inoculated, or how infection may be prevented or cured.
Some have professed to believe that the spores, such as we have seen produced in
clusters on wheat-straw, enter by the stomata, or pores, of the growing plant,
"and at the bottom of the hollows to which they lead they germinate and push
their minute roots into the cellular texture." Such an explanation, however
plausible at first sight, fails on examination, from the fact that the spores are too
large to find ingress by such minute openings. It is improbable that the spores
enter the growing plant at all. The granular contents of the spores may effect an
entrance either through the roots or by the stomata. or the globose bodies produced

Period from A.D. 1840 to A.D. 1842. 457

Stallupohen, on the north-east declivities of the valleys which
extend from Jurgeitschen by Morgallen to Goldapp, and
exactly terminating with these declivities. Without any other
precursor)- symptoms, and without any febrile indications,
the white spots and patches on the skins of horses became
swollen, hot, and painful, and in two or three days were
concealed by a dry coriaceous scab, which in a short time
became removed by suppuration. This gangrene of the skin
was always rigidly limited to the white portions, and marked
out by the contour of these, without ever extending to integu-
ment of any other colour. When two piebald horses had lost
pieces of skin to the extent of some square feet, irritative
fever showed itself to a high degree during the process of
suppuration. In general the disease was always benignant,
and terminated in complete recovery. The cause Mr. Steiner
found to reside in the vetches, which were entirely covered
with honeydew, mildew, and aphides, and were entirely
destroyed over a wide extent of country. The malady

upon the germination of the spores may be the primary cause of infection. We are
not aware that this question has been satisfactorily determined. It is worthy of
remembrance by all persons interested in the growth of corn, that the mildew is
most common upon plants growing on the site of an old dunghill, or on very rich
soil. As the same Pnccinia is also to be found on numerous grasses, no prudent
farmer will permit these to luxuriate around the borders of his fields, lest they
should serve to introduce or increase the pest he so much dreads. The germination
of the spores of the corn-mildew is a very interesting and instructive process, which
may be observed with very little trouble. If the spores be scraped from the
sori of the preceding year, and kept for a short time in a damp atmosphere under
a glass receiver, minute colourless threads will be seen to issue both from the upper
and lower divisions of the spores. These will attain a length several times that of
the spores from whence they spring. The extremities of these threads ultimately
thicken, and two or three septse are formed across each, dividing it into cells, in
which a little orange-coloured endochrome accumulates. From the walls of each
of these cells, or joints, a small pedicel, or spicule, is produced outwards, the tip
of which gradually swells until a spherical head is formed, into which the orange-
coloured fluid passes from the extremities of the threads. A quantity of such
threads, bearing at their summits from one to four of these orange-coloured,
spherical, secondary fruits, form a beautiful as well as interesting object for the
microscope. When matured, these globose bodies, which Tulasne has called
Sporidia, fall from the threads, and commence germinating on their own account.
It is not impossible that the sporidia, in this and allied genera, may themselves
produce a third and still more minute fruit, capable of diffusion through the tissues
of growing plants, or gaining admission by their stomata. Nothing of the kind,'
however, has yet been of certainty discovered.'— -P. 46 el scq.

458 History of Animal Plagues.

soon Tested itself after the useof these vetches, beginning
about he month of June, 1841, and becoming more and more
general until the middle of July, when it had attained its
greatest extension. At this time very few horses were seen
with white, spotted, or flecked skins which were not suffering
from the epizooty ; all had received these vetches as food, and
where the author saw an animal unaffected, he was certain on
inquiry to be informed that it had not been allowed any of
this forage, or that it came from the other side of these valleys
About the middle of July, nearly the whole of the vetch-fields
m the country of Gumbinnen were destroyed, and the small
portion which escaped entire devastation had been washed by
a shower of rain. The farmers were fully aware of the con-
nection between the diseased vetches and the outbreak among
their horses, and when they ceased to give this food the
affection disappeared entirely ; though at the end of Sep-
tember there were yet many horses whose skins had not
quite recovered from the strange influence.^

H. Schrebe, of Stralsund, in the same volume says : 'I have
had occasion to observe, in the months of June, July, and
August of the past year, the disease described by Mr. Steiner,
but It was accompanied by other phenomena besides those
mentioned by him. The malady always appeared without any
precursory signs, but with the symptoms of slight catarrhal
fever. It attacked many horses at the same time, and in a
few days had spread to all the horses ; only those of a dark
colour, and without white patches, were exempt. After
this time, no more piebald horses or heads with white spots
were observed until after desquamation of the epidermis by
the suppurating wounds. The course of the disease was as
follows : The horses became dull, did not eat; the hair became
erect, and the pulse a little quickened ; nothing was observed
either in the functions of respiration or digestion ; the interior
of the mouth at the commencement was hot but moist, and
the mucous membrane lining the nostrils was in a normal
state. Twenty-four or thirty-six hours after the commence-
ment of the disease, it was observed that on the inner surface

^ Magazin fiir d. Thierlieillcundc, vol. ix. p. 53.

Period f^^om A.D. 1840 to A.D. 1842. 459

of the lips, the cheeks, and above all on the tongue, small
transparent vesicles had formed, which soon coalesced— with-
out covering a large extent of surface, however, but only m
small groups. The mucous membrane in these places became
detached in a short time, and left the muscular structures
exposed ; neither the mucous nor salivary secretions were
augmented. About the same time that these phenomena
were observed, the eyelids became intensely inflamed ; they
were tumefied, hot, the conjunctivae gorged with blood ; the
secretion of tears was abundant until a little later, when it
ceased ; the eyes were closed. Then the inflammation ex-
tended to the bulb of the eye ; the transparent cornea became
opaque, and presented a dull-blue colour. In the pastures
horses so affected remained in one corner without seeking to
move, seemed afraid of the sun, and often fell down. The
two eyes were always affected at the same time. On the
limbs which were covered with a white skin, this became hot,
swollen, tense, and painful, and the hair grew rough and
bristly. After some days the white patches became wrinkled,
and became detached by degrees, until it reached the darker
shade of skin ; the margins curled up, and the flakes at last
fell off, leaving exposed a healthy suppurating surface ; these
places healed up in a very short time, and the lost hair became
regenerated. This gangrene was always limited to the white
portions, and never surpassed their boundaries ; but it did not
spare the smallest white spot, neither on the limbs nor yet on
any other part of the body. White horses suffered consider-
ably from the disease, but the ophthalmia was less intense.
Other coloured horses without any white did not suffer from
this skin malady, but the inflammation of the eyes was more
severe in them. The disease was always benignant and
curable in a brief period, without any ill consequences. It
only appeared where the horses were confined to pastures,
which were very bare this year, and received green forage,
especially vetches, which were entirely covered with mildew
and aphides, rendering them quite black.'i

^ Magazin fiir cI.Thierheilkunde,vol. ix. p. 479. This gangrene of the white skin has
been sometimes observed in cattle, and probably from the same cause. It is an old

46o History of Ajihnal Plagues.

_ A similar occurrence appears to have taken place at Anclam
in this year (1842).!

The influenza or typhus of horses continued in this and the
two succeeding years, particularly in France and England
in Germany it yet lingered, and several veterinary surgeons
have more or less carefully described it. Hilmer, for example
observed it at Stade among cavalry horses. ' In April 1841'
nervous diseases again appeared among the cavalry horses in
the barracks of this place ; among these diseases I include all
complicated appearances of a feverish condition which seem
to me to be due, primarily, to nervous disturbance, and which
I briefly generalize as nervous fever, no matter in what ivay
or to what extent the circulatory system may be thereby
sympathetically affected. According to my own experience
we must regard nervous fever among horses either as being a
purely nervous disease-which is very seldom the case-or as
a general malady that cannot be identified as affecting any
particular organ, although in this case it is quite as dangerous.
The reason that the old horses were especially attacked at
this late manifestation of the epizooty, was probably because
they were hard-worked ; while the five-year-old horses were
nearly all gently ridden. Besides, the latter were nearly all in

observation confirmed over and over again in modern times, that'when plants are
much mildewy bees have dysentery. Heusinger remarks that this affection of white-
slcmned horses has some analogy with the action of certain vegetables which have
an mfluence on white animals, but none on black. Spinola, for example, among
other authors (' Krankheiten der Schweine,' p. 237), asserts that buckwheat causes
vertigo m white or white-spotted swine, but not in black. Fuchs (' Pathologic,' p. 145)
confirms this observation, and adds what is familiar enough in our own country,
that the sun inflames the white skins of these creatures. One of the most singular
effects of this kind is that produced by the hypericum crisj>iim, or ' fumulo ' in
Sicily and Naples on the white-wooled sheep. Wren these have grazed upon or
only touched this plant, an acrid juice secreted by its glands causes so much irrita-
tion about their faces that to relieve it they rub them against their wool, which
quickly falls off; then their heads begin to swell and they die in about two weeks
C^Cyrillo. Fundam. Bot.' p. 125). Marinasci de Martina (Atti del r. Inst,
d' Incorrag. ii. p. 377) testifies to these facts, and assures us that such accidents
never happen to black sheep, and hence it is that only this coloured animal is
reared in the districts where the hypericum crispttm is common. IMeuni di Lecce
(ibid. p. 322) says that the fumulo only has this action when it grows in lowlands,
and this is the reason why black sheep alone are bred in Tarentinno.
^ Burmeistei: Op. cit. vol. x. p. 112.

Period from A.D. 1840 to A.D. 1842. 461

the Artillery Barracks, where, on this occasion, there were no
cases of the disease. The visible symptoms indicated, for
the most part, affections of the lungs and liver. According
to my observations, as I shall show hereafter, one can dis-
cover nothing from nervous manifestations; there may be
inflammation of the lungs, or only fancied symptoms of
inflammation present ; for the same signs of inflammation of
these organs, or a secondary inflamed condition of their
tissue, may be ascribed to an affection of the nerves ; hence
I designate these doubtful cases only affections of the lungs
or chest A horse was seized with symptoms of inflam-
mation of the lungs in a mild form, and after he had appar-
ently made some progress towards recovery, he had slight
attacks of colic, followed by paralysis of the posterior ex-
tremities, and soon died. The examination did not discover
any organic disease which could in the slightest degree have
caused death. This case led me to suspect the symptoms ;
to hesitate before pronouncing the existence of inflammation
as certain, or to regard nervous fever as dependent on, or due
to inflammation.

' In the middle of May, in the same year, four and five
years old horses entered the barracks as remounts, and,
within the first eight days, symptoms of the nervous fever
appeared, the result of which was very disastrous, as six fell
victims to it. At this early period, the disease had also sud-
denly broken out in Hanover and Celle The only

indications of inflammation which sometimes appear in very
severe cases of pneumonia, and from which horses may die,
proved in these instances to be fictitious, since the lungs were
always in a normal condition.^ .... When, as often happens,
local affections accompany nervous fever, these generally
involve the principal organs — the brain, and those in the
chest and abdomen — and but rarely attack the cutaneous
surface. Notwithstanding this, one should carefully avoid

1 Heusinger observes that if* the stethoscope be not used, there is a liability to
commit the same error in the typhus of man accompanied by paralysis or
typhic affection of the nerves of the lungs, and even with the stethoscope it is
sometimes rather difficult to distinguish this typhic bruit from the crepitant rale.

462 History of Aniinal Plagttes.

treating apparent symptoms of inflammation by blood-letting ;
for, as before mentioned, such symptoms may be present
when there is no real inflammation in existence, but only
simple nervous disorder. I think this fact is of great im-
portance, and should incite us to distinguish more carefully
between symptoms of nervous derangement and real inflam-
mation, a distinction I have not yet succeeded in making.
.... At the same time, I observe that dangerous sickness
in a horse is often indicated by the state of the blood after
blood-letting. Such blood lacks the proper element or spirit
of life ilebensgeist), or whatever it may be termed, and actually
shows an approach to, or even the presence of, decomposition
in its mass. I would willingly believe that the horses which
died under my care were in great danger ; but I look upon it
as quite certain that I helped them to their death by blood-
letting. 1 Horses which appeared to be only slightly unwell,
and whose blood flowed badly and was of a dark colour, were
afterwards so dreadfully prostrated by this bleeding, as 'to be

unable to rally It is easily seen what a totally diff'erent

disease the horse plague {pferdseuche) is, and which becomes
all the more perplexing as horses succumb in different stages
of the malady. Yet I have reasons for saying that my lost
patients here had fallen into the torpid state at the commence-
ment of the fever, and that this condition is not necessarily a
consequence of an advanced stage of the disease.' ^

As already noticed, the disease appeared elsewhere in
Germany, and some of the reports are particularly valuable.
Among these is one by H. Tetzlaff", of Barenklau, which
deserves some allusion. Speaking of its nature, he says : ' After
many years' close and attentive observation of this disease, I
am persuaded that it is contagious, and chiefly prevalent

1 It is worthy of remark how, at this period, vpterinary surgeons were beginning
to change their view with regard to the propriety of blood-letting in many diseases,
and how their treatment of such maladies as that now under consideration was
becoming modified, or rather altered, to the rational therapeutic measures of
nowadays. In this respect they were much in advance of the healers of man-,
kind, who, until a recent period, continued to employ depletive remedies in this
class of affections, notwithstanding their obviously disastrous effects.

* Hilmer. Zeitschrift fiir die Gesammte Thierheilkunde, vol. x. p. i.

Period from A.D. 1840 to A.D. 1842. 463

during the autumns succeeding cold wet summers, or at
times when the electricity of the atmosphere causes the
formation of thick fogs. It rages most in stables where many-
horses are kept together. Young horses, fi'om three to six
years old, are more liable to its attacks than old ones, but the
latter do not wholly escape. Very strong constitutioned
animals, and such as have no predisposition to this disease,
are spared. Traces or isolated appearances of this disease
are to be met in all seasons, but chiefly in autumn ; and then
it principally attacks horses that, from some cause or other,
have been very much confined to their stables. I do not
mean to say that those which are only brought into the stable
at night, or even those which are left out in the meadows,
escape ; for such is not the case, although instances of horses
that live constantly in the open air being attacked with
influenza are. rarely heard of. I have seen this disease prevail
to a frightful extent among cavalry horses while in the
barracks or depots, but it rarely appears among troops while
on the march, or among those horses in barracks that are
regularly turned out during a certain portion of the day. It
is only where a great number of horses are confined together
in stables, from morning until night, that its ravages are so
serious. The air in such stables becomes heavy with animal
emanations, especially where the horses are only taken out
for a short time now and then. In such stables there are
seldom any means of obtaining a regular change of air, and
the animals constantly inhale the floating miasma, and its
poisonous influence becomes manifest in the development of
influenza.

In the beginning of October, 184 1, seventy-six cavalry
horses were delivered at the barrack depot, at Barenklau,
where the influenza was at that time raging frightfully. There
were three troops then at the depdt, and among these the
horses were equally divided, twenty-six being reserved for
Barenklau. These latter were turned out into a large meadow
a quarter of a mile distant from the winter quarters, and were
treated exactly the same as the animals which had been
previously there. Although only fourteen days before the

464

History of A^iimal Plagues.

disease had broken out among the numerous horses assembled
there, and even spread to the winter quarters and the straw-
yard, and attacked sixteen ponies which stood in a dark stable
—notwithstanding all this, these twenty-six cavalry horses
escaped; while those divided among the troops, and the
greater part of those which had been there previously, sufifered
severely from influenza. What is still more remarkable is
that at the same time no other horse was suffering from
influenza in the whole of the neighbourhood ; hence the dis-
ease could not have been brought into the dep6t in that
manner,, and must have arisen from the inhalation of the
miasma of which I have before spoken, and which I consider
to be one of the chief predisposing and exciting causes of
influenza.'^

In France, MM. Damalix and Reynal, of the ist regiment
of Lancers, have observed and described the influenza for this
year: 'Notwithstanding the unfavourable circumstances in
which the regiment had been placed for six months, its sani-
tary condition was generally satisfactory until the 15th of
■ March, 1841. At that period it was all at once disturbed by
the appearance of a grave malady, which chiefly attacked the
young horses newly joined from the remount depot of Saint-
Avoid. This affection, whose analogue we do not know in
the records of science, bore sometimes the characteristics of
an acute dysenteric enteritis, complicated with putrid ten-
dencies ; and at other times it appeared as a typhoid fever.
In both forms its course was so rapid that death ensued, even
before there was time to adopt remedial measures. It was
marked by the following symptoms : General uneasiness, great
anxiety, troubled expression, the eyes fixed and prominent,
the ears immovable, a comatose state, blackish patches on the
conjunctiva and the pituitary membrane, the pulse small and
soft, the beats of the heart strong and precipitous, the respira-
tion slow, insensibility of the loins, great loathing of alimentary
substances. With four horses there was extreme difficulty in
the act of defecation, and frequent though vain attempts to
effect it were made ; the passage of stercoral matters was

^ Tetzlaff. Magazin fiir die Gesammte Thierheilkunde, 1843.

Period from A.D. 1840 to A.D. 1842. 465

preceded and followed by the disengagement of gas and the
expulsion of a liquid substance, sometimes greyish in colour,
sometimes muco-purulent, and having a very bad odour.
Frequent borborygmus ; the sphincter ani continually relaxed,
and the anus in a constant movement out and in ; a burning
heat in the rectum, which is largely dilated. In the brief
space of six hours these symptoms had reached their last
stage. Then set in a new series of morbid phenomena, whose
yet more rapid course only terminated in death. All the
depending parts of the body became engorged ; local cedemas
were formed on the prepuce, under the belly, the chest, on the
limbs, and in the intermaxillary space. These engorgements
always became augmented in volume ; two hours were
sufficient to allow them to acquire a thickness of several
inches, and often in this time they became suddenly gan-
grenous—a change characterized by the effusion of a reddish-
coloured and bloody liquid through the skin ; under the hair
and the epidermis, which could be removed by the slightest
friction, there was remarked now a livid, yellowish, or greenish
tint, now a black or blueish hue, and at other times the greyish
and violet colour peculiar to an organ which has ceased to
live. Local as was this gangrene, it was not slow to affect
the whole economy : the blood, even in the interior of the
vessels, was struck by death in consequence of its coming in
contact with new morbid products. (In our most minute
researches on the alterations of the blood, we believe that in
one instance only we have found pus mixed with the circu-
lating fluid ; notwithstanding this, we still held it doubtful,
until new observations permitted us to see easily pus-globules
through a glass.) Arrived at this phase, the affection changed
its physiognomy : it assumed the form of those putrid fevers
which destroy animals in the course of a few hours. In five
horses the symptoms of dysentery were not remarked. All
the changes were due to a veritable typhoid decomposition of
the blood, announced by the black tint of the conjunctiva and
of the pituitary membrane \ the blue colour of the tongue, the
prostration of strength, the smallness of the pulse and the
softness of the vessel, and the quick beatings of the heart. In

30

466 History of Anwial Plagues.

the space of from five to six hours there appeared the cedema-
tous engorgements under the belly and chest, and, what is
worthy of remark, these had an upward tendency; that is to
say, they proceeded from below to above, reaching the breast,
the shoulders, the upper parts of the sides, and the flanks.
They never got below the knees or the hocks. After remain-
ing about seven or eight hours their progress became rapid,
and they acquired enormous dimensions ; a bistoury could be
inserted into them up to the handle without the animal's
testifying any signs of pain. Soon the hair became damp, and
the epidermis was detached without difficulty ; the swellings
acquired the characters already mentioned ; the horses lay
down and succumbed to the disease in about from twelve to
fifteen hours, with a calmness which contrasted strangely with
the rapidity of the disease. The blood showed certain signs
of alteration : it circulated slowly in the interior of its vessels ;
a large opening made in the jugular vein only permitted the
escape of a small quantity, and it often happened that bleed-
ing was impossible. The blood was black and muddy-looking,
and it preserved these characters in the haematometre, where
it did not separate into three distinct parts, as in ordinary
circumstances. The day after its abstraction it had not altered,
but still presented a black, pitchy-looking appearance. If
contemporary writings had not admitted in a positive manner
the possibility of purulent matter being circulated in the blood,
our observations would have given this subject unquestionable
proofs. So marked was it, in fact, that scarcely had the blood
been received into a glass vessel, than there gradually formed
in its lower part a thin layer of a whitish material, and globules
of the same colour were equally observed in the walls of the
clot. In an hour afterwards they were not noticeable ; no
doubt because of the colouring matter which had covered
them. We have endeavoured many times to examine these
white-coloured deposits separately, but the slight consistency
and the viscidity of the clot constantly offered an insurmount-
able obstacle. This disease appeared all at once in twenty
horses, and without any change of regime sufficient to account
for it ; on the contrary, it exercised its ravages on those

Period from A.D. 1840 to A.D. 1842. 467

which for a long time had been submitted to the strictest
hygienic measures. Out of this number seven died in the
short space of fourteen hours, and two in about twenty-four
hours ; three held out to the fifth day, but only to die in such
a state of marasmus that they were scarcely able to stand.
The treatment, which, under these disastrous circumstances,
was pursued in a very energetic manner with regard to the
other horses, sufficed to change the character of the malady,
and to retard its rapid progress. For five or six days it was
hoped that the care with which they were tended would have
maintained this state of convalescence, and that turning them
out to grass would effect a thorough cure, when a species oi
adynamic glanders attacked them and destroyed all our
hopes. With some, there were complicated tumours and
farcinous swellings, which became altogether incurable, and
ulcerated rapidly under the influence of the morbid idio-
syncrasy which gave rise to them. The physiognomy of this
termination was very different from that which the glanders
observed daily in cavalry regiments assumes, owing either
to the prostration or the debility of the organism, in con-
sequence of profound pain, or of the extraordinary circum-
stances in which the animals are placed. Whether under
the circumstances of its nature, of its characters, of its pro-
gress, and of its terminations, this disease always constituted
itself a new variety of glanders. The development of the
ulcers was not preceded by the formation of vesicles or
phlyctenea, as is usually remarked in the acute state of this
affection ; they appeared suddenly in places where petechial
spots had been, and without causing the slightest inflammatory
phenomena. In the space of twenty-four hours the nasal
mucous membrane was destroyed in the whole of its extent.
The discharge was not abundant, and the engorgement of the
lymphatic glands between the jaws was but slight. Suddenly
there set in a prompt and great emaciation, which rendered
the horses unrecognisable. At the autopsy we have noticed
the chief lesions to be in the large intestines, in the blood, and
in those places where the gangrenous engorgements had been
In four horses which had shown symptoms of dysentery, we

30—2

468

History of Animal Plagties.

have found a livid greenish tint in the mucous membrane of
the large intestine, with partial destruction of its parenchyma
in many portions of its extent ; these places were of different
shapes, and their size varied from that of a piece of twenty-
five centimes to that of a five-franc piece. In the interior ot
the intestine there was found a greyish purulent matter
streaked with blood, and mixed with the residue of the food.
The liver and the spleen were considerably augmented in
volume, and were gorged with a black unhealthy blood. The
cavities of the heart and the large vessels were filled with
black pitch-like clots of blood, which broke up readily in the
fingers. The lining membrane of these was red-coloured, but
without presenting any traces of inflammation. The colour
was not removed by washing. The lungs showed nothing
particular. The cutaneous engorgements were in such a state
of decomposition and of putrefaction that words cannot
describe the hideous and disgusting aspect they bore. All,
even the muscular fibre, was confounded in a putrid and
infectious mass ; here a blueish-black, without any consistency ;
there a dirty yellow, and yet firm in substance; elsewhere
green, livid, and grey in patches, or more advanced it formed
a liquid detritus similar to China ink.'^

For 1 842, Professor Rey, in the Compte Rendu of the Lyons
Veterinary College, makes the following remarks in regard to
this disease : ' During the month of June an affection analogous
to the epizooty of 1825 and that of the last year has re-
appeared. Contrary to what was observed in the preceding
invasions, it attacks by preference the horses which do not
work, or which do but little, and above all, those horses which,
being newly imported, have not yet become acclimatized. It
is on the Flemish, Boulonnois, and Comtois horses that the
disease chiefly seizes. High-bred horses and those in high
condition have been spared ; while we have been able to study
the disease in fourteen horses of the gendarmerie, even while
they were receiving green forage. As in beforetimes, the
symptoms indicate an affection of the digestive, and some-
times also of the respiratory, organs. The inflammation of

'^Damalix and Reynal. Recueil de Med. Veter. vol. xix. p. 357.

Period from A.D. 1840 to A.D. 1842. 469

the eyelids, and the diverse shades which the cornea assumes,
were the first symptoms observed by the proprietors ; there
was, besides, engorgement of the posterior members and of
the prepuce, depression of the vital powers, etc. A favourable
termination has been obtained in all cases, notwithstanding
some complications, often very serious, and notably pneu-
monia, bronchitis, etc.'^

In the department of the Marne, two veterinary surgeons
have reported on the epizooty. One of these, M. Charlier,
writes : ' A disease which attacks the horse species — one I
have very often had occasion to observe in the sporadic, but
above all in the enzootic state, and which I believe has reigned
for a long time in our country — has been existing in an epi-
zootic form for more than six months, and has already made
a great number of victims. This terrible disease, sometimes
taken for an affection of the heart, the beatings of which are
only one of the symptoms, has been and is still confounded
with the gastro-enteritis described by authors.

^ First Period. — The blood at this period does not give any
important evidence. A slight disorder of the digestive func-
tions ; a marked difficulty in breathing ; a precipitation in the
heart's beats on the slightest exertion ; lastly, a diminution of
the muscular power — such are the early signs of the invasion
of the disease. This state may persist for a longer or shorter
period, dependent on the labour and the regime to which the
animal is submitted.

^Second Period. — That which is at first most striking at this
stage is the great muscular debility ; progression is difficult,
uncertain ; the animal staggers from right to left, "breaks out
into a perspiration in the stable, does not lie down, and be-
comes very poor. Some horses have general tremblings ;
with all, the subcutaneous veins are invisible ; the hair is
turned the wrong way ; the head is carried low ; the belly is
tucked up, or sometimes there is meteorization. Some of the
sick animals have partial oedemas ; all have the limbs en-
gorged, and the dependent parts, into which the infiltration
has distended their subcutaneous cellular tissue, look bloated ;
1 Rcy. Recueil de Med. Vdtdr. vol. xx. p. 125.

47o History of Animal Plagues.

the flanks are drawn up; the respiration is quickened and
plaintive, as we may hear on applying our ear to their nostrils.
This synaptom can be increased on exercising the animal for
a few steps. The conjunctiva, which has often a red tint, is
infiltrated, and sometimes pale and covered with petechia ;
the pulse appears to be increased and quickened, but much
less resisting than in inflammations, and, what is worthy of
remark, it becomes stronger towards the evening. The beatings
of the heart are very strong, accelerated, and tumultuous ; a
blowing sound {bruit de souffle) is heard at each ventricular con-
traction ; . micturition is more frequent, and the urine is more
clear than in the first period ; the excrements are also more
soft, and contain badly-elaborated aliment; intestinal rum-
blings are strong and frequent, and may be heard some
distance ofl"; sometimes the articulations crack loudly. In
some cases epistaxis is added to the other symptoms. At
length, when this period is already far advanced, if setons are
applied, there is much trouble experienced in arresting the
bleeding which flows from the incisions, and which has a
colour like the v/ater in which flesh has been washed. Sup-
puration is also difficult to establish, for during the first days
there only escapes a reddish serum. The appetite is preserved,
and even seems to be augmented, in those animals which in
the first period have exhibited symptoms of a slight inflam-
mation. In the evening there is always an exacerbation of the
symptoms. This state may last for from twelve to fifteen
days, according to the strength of the animal and the treat-
ment to which he has been submitted.

' Third Period. — To the preceding symptoms in this stage
there are others added which are yet more striking. The
animals no longer eat, and the flanks are violently agitated on
the least exertion ; the skin is often dry, and closely adherent
to the body ; the periphery of the body and the extremities
become cold ; the eyes are buried in the orbits ; the penis is
often pendent ; the anal orifice is retracted within the pelvis,
and remains dilated ; all the apparent mucous membranes
become more and more pale ; the pulse is insensible and
filiform ; the heart's beats are more accelerated and less

Period from A.D. 1840 to A.D. 1842. 471

tumultuous. The venous pulse is remarked in the two
jugulars ; the respiration becomes more quickened ; the ex-
pired air is cold ; underneath the belly, in the prepuce or the
mammae, there is oedema ; the borborygmi are more frequent ;
the urine is scanty ; soon a colliquative diarrhoea comes on ;
the swellings disappear ; and the animals, who since the com-
mencement of the malady have not lain down, fall as if
paralyzed, and have very violent spasmodic contractions of
the members, of the neck, and of the muscles of the face —
contractions which always precede death by a few hours.

' Such is usually the progress of this disease ; yet I ought to
observe that during the hot weather the symptoms are much
more rapid in horses of a lymphatic temperament. Some of
these animals even die suddenly, or at least very promptly, in
a state of obesity quite remarkable. What is the nature of
this disease ? I hesitate to answer this question, so difficult
in all diseases, but much more so in those which reign epi-
zootically. Nevertheless, in calling to mind the opinions of
my learned professors MM. Delafond and Renault, and in
collecting all the facts relating to similar sporadic diseases
which I have studied at the clinic of the school, I have
every reason to think that the affection I have described is
due to an alteration in the constituents of the blood, with a
predominance of the aqueous principle, and diminution of the
solid matters. It is, in the language of modern times, a
hydroh^emia complicated with anhsemia ; or, what is more ex-
plicit, in the very expressive words of M. Lign^e, it is an
aqueous cachexia. The symptoms during life, and the altera-
tions found after death, testify to the truth of this assertion.
To what other cause than to an alteration of the circulating
fluid may be attributed this profound prostration of the vital
powers, those serous effusions into the cellular tissue and the
splanchnic cavities, and the general discolouration of the flesh
which the dead bodies present ? But of all the lesions, the
most characteristic is that of the blood itself. This liquid has
neither its normal colour nor consistency. Collected in a
haematometre, it coagulates very slowly; its white clot is
without solidity, and really resembles a trembling jelly; its

472 History of Animal Plagues.

sedimentous or crude portion, in considerably diminished
quantity, becomes deposited at the bottom of the vase as a
black mud.'i

The observations of the other veterinary surgeon of Marne,
M Denoc, are much to the same purpose as those of M.
Charher. He says in the course of his description : ' Has the
disease which is now made known to the readers of the
" Recueil," and which is named a typhoid fever, any resem-
blance to that disease in man ? Does it bear any analogy to
It, and ought we to give it this name ? Truly, if we form
too exclusive an idea with regard to it, or if we would desire
to behold only in typhoid fever a buttony eruption in the
intestines, and the ulceration of Brunner's and Peyer's follicles
—if besides these lesions we would only desire to witness com-
plications, one might conceive doubts as to the analogy that
I am about to seek to establish. But if, disengaged from all
systematic ideas, we study one by one the symptoms— if we
group them and compare them, and if after this study we
regard in the same manner their morbid lesions, we will be
obliged to admit that the disease we have already described
is of a typhoid character, and if not identical, is at least
analogous to that malady which is designated in man dothin-
enteritis or typhoid fever. This disease has been little, if at
all, studied in veterinary medicine, and the only observation
we are aware of has recently been published in the Compte
Rendu of the Alfort Veterinary School, year 1841-42. Before
this publication veterinary surgeons have spoken, it is true,
of typhoid fever, but so vaguely that the reader cannot draw
from their writings any practical deduction. Some among
them, mistaking the specialities which they have set them-
selves to observe, have, without doubt, confounded this dis-
ease (typhus) with inflammatory fevers {affections charbon-
neuses). This is a very grave error, for there exists between
the two diseases so wide a pathological difference that it is

scarcely possible to confound the two diseases

' Pathological Anatomy. — In cutting through the abdominal
tunics, an abundant citron-coloured liquid escapes ; the

^ Charlier. Recueil de Med. Veter. vol. xx. p. 1 53.

Period from A.D. 1840 to A.D. 1842. 473

omentum is destroyed altogether or in part ; the small intes-
tines, as well as the colon and caecum, are studded with small
red points, but the colon is always the seat of most profound
alterations. In it are found ecchymosis here ; there, large
gangrenous patches ; elsewhere, traces of phlogosis, but
above all, a vascular arborization of a most remarkable kind.
In three in which sudamina was observed from the beginning,
we remarked in the intestine an eruption of pimples (boutons)
very similar to those which we notice on the skin of animals
attacked with that variety of farcy called cul de poide} The
pimples or buds had a wide base, with raised and denticulated
margins, and formed an ulcerous excavation, which had com-
pletely destroyed the mucous and follicular textures. In a
fourth horse we remarked the same lesions by the aid of a
magnifying-glass ; these ulcerations were so much smaller
than in the other three cases, that they were invisible to the
naked eye. We have never observed intestinal perforations.
The liver was always double its healthy volume, its texture
was broken up by the slightest traction and reduced to black
liquid ; the spleen was often emphysematous. The kidneys
were discoloured, unhealthy looking, and hypertrophied ; in
four horses these glandular organs were resolved into a pulpy
matter like mud. The heart was discoloured and contained
fibrino-albuminous clots ; some of these clots, and chiefly
those in the aortic ventricle, seemed to have undergone a kind
of organization, and possessed the properties of white fibrous
tissue. The aorta, the vena cava, and in general all the great
arterial and venous trunks, contained clots similar to those
met with in the heart. The vena porta was the only excep-
tion, as it contained black tarry blood If we are cor-
rectly informed, this disease made great ravages in some
localities of the department of the Aisne, where it destroyed
nine-tenths of the animals. No facts of its being contagious
have shown themselves in our practice, and we abstain from
any remarks on this point, only noticing that M. Demilly
considered it as contagious.' ^

' The name given to the chancrous ulcers of farcy, when hixuriant granulations
are thrown out around their margins, then bulge and extend beyond the sores.
- Denoc. Recueil de Med. Veter. vol. xx. p. 328.

474 History of Animal Plagues.

This epizooty, besides showing itself in Britain in 1841, as
we have already noticed, appeared again in the two following
years. In 1842, Mr. Child, of Swaffham, writes: 'The
influenza is now (Jan.) prevailing among the horses that come
under my care to an alarming extent. The symptoms in the
young horses are : increased rapidity of the pulse, with a wiry
feeling, cold extremities, staring coat, no appetite, and an
evident staring gait. The symptoms are nearly the same in
the older horses, only the eyes are much swollen, with very
considerable discharge.' 1 Mr. Percivall, ist Life Guards,
writes :^ ' The influenza, or epidemic, among my horses is
bronchitis, preceded or ushered in by laryngitis, and by it
accompanied to its termination, nay, apparently outlived by
It' ' The expiring of the old year and birth of the new one
has brought among our horses a disease uniform enough and
prevalent enough to obtain the appellation of either "epidemic,"
" epizootic," " influenza," or " distemper," as suits the vocation
or fancy of the groom or doctor in attendance. In most
instances it has assumed the bronchitic form of disease, dis-
tinguished by concomitant laryngitis, which has produced an
annoying sore throat, and a cough evidently painful from the
feebleness of it, and the palpable eff"orts made by the animal
to suppress it. The respiration has proved very slightly dis-
turbed ; just enough, however, with the absence of murmur
and the deadness of percussion, to indicate some congestion
of the lungs. Dulness, dispiritedness, gloominess, has been
an early and remarkable symptom. The appetite has not
altogether failed ; but has been fastidious enough. The ex-
tremities are commonly warm. In two instances there has
been very conspicuous an intolerance of light, the horse blink-
ing or shutting his eyes when brought to the stable-door or
window ; and yet the eyes themselves have shown no appear-
ance of disease, nor had any issue running from them. In
one case the conjunctival membrane was evidently a good
deal loaded with bilious tinge. In ordinary cases it has, in
common with the Schneiderian membrane, appeared red-
dened and injected. No discharge, or only a lachrymous

^ F. Child. The Veterinarian, vol. xv. p. 102.

Period from A.D. 1840 to A.D. 1842. 475

one, from the nostrils. The tongue has been dry, and ex-
hibited longitudinal broad patches of redness, but afterwards
has attained that saponaceous character which indicates— and
particularly when combined with the yellow tinge of the
mucous membrane — gastro-enteritic disorder ; and this has
been further indicated, in some cases, by the dung-balls being
either of so light a bilious shade as almost to appear of a
gamboge colour, or else to show a tinge of the highest-coloured
bile; and being at the same time coated with albuminous
(slimy) matter. The urine is thick, and less than usual in
quantity. Slight cases, treated at their commencement, will
amend again on the third or fourth day, and the horses
resume their work in a week. When there is confirmed in-
flammation in the air-passages, and the lungs become con-
gested, the case will endure a fortnight or three weeks, or
may occupy altogether a month ; in such cases, the tenth day
is the time amendment commonly shows itself, undisguisedly.
Out of ten horses attacked with the disease, five were under
five years old, two had completed their fifth year, two their
sixth, and one his ninth. Eight were attacked standing in
the stable ; two, both three-year-olds, contracted the disorder
while running in the straw-yard. The fatal case — one of the
eight attacked in the stable — was taken ill in the usual
manner, proved dull and spiritless and somewhat off his feed,
with quickened pulse, and some slight and slow heaving of
the flanks, perceptible only to the close observer, with red-
dened membranes, dry and unnaturally hot mouth and tongue,
warm extremities, scanty excretions, etc The post-
mortem examination disclosed congested lungs, in places
proceeding to hepatization ; pleural inflammation, not intense,
with several quarts of water in both sides of the thorax ; but
no albuminous effusion. Glottis intensely inflamed.'^

And again this author says : ' From the close of the past
year and the beginning of the present, up to the time I am
writing (June), the influenza among horses has continued to
prevail in the metropolis and different parts of the country
with more or less fatality. In London it has assumed the

1 W. Percivall. The Veterinarian, vol. xv. pp. 102, 117.

476 History of Animal Plagues.

form of laryngitis, associated in some instances with bronchitis;
m others— in all, I belie^re, where it has proved fatal— with
pleurisy. The parenchymatous structure of the lungs has not
partaken of the disease, or but consecutively and slightly.
The earliest and most characteristic symptom has been sore
throat, causing troublesome dry, short cough, but rarely occa-
sioning any difficulty of deglutition, and, in no instance that I
have seen, severe or extensive enough to produce anything
like disgorgement or return of the masticated matters through
the nose, and yet the slightest pressure on the larynx has
excited an act of coughing. But seldom has any glandular
enlargement appeared. The symptom secondarily remarkable
after the sore throat and cough has been a dispiritedness or
dulness, for which most epidemics of the kind are remarkable.
The animal at the time of sickening has hung his head under
the manger, with his eyes half shut and his lower lip pendent,
without evincing any alarm, or even much notice, though a
person entered his abode or approached him ; and if in a box,
his head is often found, during his illness, turned towards the
door or window. Fever, without any disturbance of the
respiration, has always been present ; the pulse has been
accelerated, though rather small and weak in its beat than
indicative of strength ; the mouth has been hot, sometimes
burning hot,, after wards moist, and perhaps saponaceous ; the
skin and extremities in general have been warm. Now and
then the prostration and appearance of debility have been
such, and so rapid in their manifestation, that, shortly after
being attacked, a horse has staggeringly walked twenty yards
only — the distance from his stable to an infirmary-box. The
appetite, though impaired much, has seldom been altogether
lost. Generally, if a little fresh hay has been offered, it has
been taken and eaten ; but to mashes there has been com-
monly great aversion. During the long continuance of' the
wind in the east, the sore throat and cough have been unat-
tended by any flux from the nose ; but since the wind has
shifted, within this last fortnight or three weeks, discharges
from the nostrils have appeared, profuse even in quantity, and
purulent in their nature ; in fact, the disease has assumed a

Period from A.D. 1840 to A.D. 1842. 477

more catarrhal character — evgo, I might add, a more favour-
able one. The disorder has exhibited every phase and degree
of intensity, from the slightest perceivable dulness, which has
passed off with simply a change in the diet, to an insidious,
unyielding, unsubduable pleurisy, ending in hydrothorax, in
spite of everything that could be done, and most timely done.
So long as the disease has confined itself to the throat, and
that there has been along with that only dejection, pros-
tration, and fever, there has existed no cause for alarm ; but
when such symptoms have, after some days' continuance, not
abated, and have, on the contrary, rather increased, and others
have arisen which but too well have authorized suspicions that
" mischief was brewing in the chest," then there became the
strongest reasons for alarm for the safety of the patient.'

In 1843 the same authority writes : ' The return of spring,
or rather the change from cold to mild weather, has brought
with it the looked-for influenza among our horses. As dis-
eases in general, from a variety of causes — some which are
cognisable by us, some not — as years roll on alter their cha-
racter, intensity, and prevalence, so epidemics or influenzas
differ a great deal in different years. In some seasons they
prevail so generally that old as well as young horses become
affected ; ordinarily, the young — the three, four, and raw five-
year-olds — are, with few exceptions, the subjects of them. In
some years the severity or fatality of the disease or diseases
constituting the influenza is such that numbers of horses die
of it, in spite of every kind of treatment that can be brought
against it ; in other seasons, so mild is it in its character, that
under almost any mode of management, and often without
treatment at all, the patients recover. On some occasions the
disease is of a nature that " hangs about " the patient for a
long while, without at any period placing his life in jeopardy,
though in the end leaving him extremely out of condition and
debilitated ; on other occasions the disease manifests itself at
once, and admits of being " cut short " by timely and proper
treatment. . . . Any disease may be epidemic, influenzial, etc.,
that happens to prevail to any inordinate extent at any parti-
cular season or time.

478 History of Animal Plagues.

' One year an influenza will be purely catarrhal in its nature ;
another, it will consist in pulmonary affection ; sometimes it
will manifest itself, in an especial manner, in disordered bowels.
This year the leading and prevalent symptom of the influenza
is sore throat ; the disease, indeed, might in most cases take
the name of laryngitis ; some do occur, however, without this
symptom. The sore throat is accompanied, perhaps preceded,
by dulness, expressed in the eyes and movements of the horse,
and by occasional cough, with fastidiousness of the appetite
or actual refusal of food. In some cases rigor has been a pre-
cursory symptom. Seldom is there but trifling discharge from
the nose, and often none at all. I have but in very few cases
seen anything like that profuse running from the nostrils
which has so commonly characterized the influenza of former
years. This may be called the viild form of the present in-
fluenza. When the horse is brought to us, not with sore throat
alone, but with fever and all its concomitants as well — with
dejection, loss of appetite, accelerated pulse, heat and dryness
of mouth, unnatural warmth of skin, with or without disturb-
ance in the respiration, or with dry, short cough, redness of
the Schneiderian membrane, and only an appearance of dis-
charge from the nostrils, or none at all — with, in fact, symptoms
of bronchitis — then the attack of influenza may be regarded
as of more importance, and of a nature to require skilful treat-
ment. This alone has proved the character of several cases
that have come under my observation since the commencement
of the present spring. In some few instances the abdominal
viscera have experienced disorder. An attack of diarrhoea,
perhaps, has come on ; or there has been, without any dian-hcea,
pawing or other signs of uneasiness, indicating bowel com-
plaint, in the beginning ; and afterwards sore throat and
cough and the other ordinary symptoms of the influenza have
appeared, and the case has proceeded in the regular manner.
Many cases that have assumed the aspect of bronchitis in the
first instance, and in which I might, had I not been fore-
warned of the consequences, been induced to bleed and other-
wise deplete much, have, on the turn of the disease, manifested
such a tendency to prostration and debility — to that state well

Period from A.D. 1840 to A.D. 1842. 479

understood by practitioners under the appellation "low fever"
— that it has been perfectly evident that, had I so depleted, I
should have done ulteriorly incalculable harm.'^

The same disease prevailed in Scotland, according to Mr.
Mather, who writes in September, 1843 : 'In and around the
vicinity of Edinburgh, the influenza, or epidemic, or epizootic
disease has continued, for many months past, to prevail among
horses with unabated fury, and with more or less fatality,
assuming different diagnostic symptoms, according to the
localities in which these animals were situated. At the present
moment the cases appear to be more numerous, but of a milder
character than at the beginning of this year and the conclusion
of the last. Besides these diseases of the lower animals, we
have intermittent and typhoid fevers equally as prevalent in
the human subject, and making extensive and fearful ravages
among the inhabitants of this city, more especially in the
families of the poorer classes of individuals. . . . There must
certainly be something dependent on atmospheric influence in
the production of the malady. I might allude, for instance, to
the present summer ; and even during the spring months, the
weather has been very unpropitious, attended with cold, wet,
easterly winds, during which cough, sore throat, and many
chest affections predominated to a considerable extent, both
in the horse and in man. . . . During the present and bygone
months of this year it made its appearance under a mild
character, generally attacking the organs about the head, and
requiring but little medical treatment. The first symptoms
were a dull and languid state of the animal : hanging his head
upon the manger, sore throat, coughing, slight difficulty in
deglutition, watery discharge from the eyes and nose, the
appetite in some impaired, others eating and drinking with
avidity, the submaxillary and lymphatic glands enlarged, and
the pulse accelerated. Some of the patients suffered very little
from the disease, and in a day or two resumed their usual
exercise, although not with as much spirit as when in health :
in other instances it commenced with a disturbance of the
respiration. There was fever ; the pulse was increased to
^ W, Percivall. The Veterinarian, vol. xvi. p. 361.

4^0 History of A^iimal Plagues.

about sixty beats per minute, and very feeble; there was a
peculiar drowsiness about the patient ; the eyes half shut ;
shivering about the hind-quarters; the extremities rather
cold ; troublesome cough ; irritability of the larynx, especially
when pressure was applied externally; the mouth hot; the
appetite impaired ; and the bowels constipated. The secondary
symptoms are, prostration of strength and staggering in the
gait, which continues hanging about them for a considerable
period afterwards. In the cases in which the inflammatory
action was confined to the mucous membrane of the nose, the
symptoms were more favourable, although the patient was
languid for a day or two. The disease afterwards made its
appearance in the form of a purulent discharge from the
nostrils, or an abscess would form in the submaxillary or
parotideal spaces ; but these I consider to assume more of a
specific catarrhal form than in the other cases, where more in-
tense symptoms were exhibited. . . When the disease occurred
during the conclusion of last year, and in the early part of
this, it assumed a serious and complicated character, and proved
in many instances fatal. The concomitant symptoms were
rather peculiar, and the post-mortem examinations discovered
extensive disease within the thoracic cavity. The first form of
the disease of which I shall treat was where bronchitis formed
the type of the malady. It appeared in some instances to
arise from, or to be connected with, uneasiness in the abdominal
cavity, and colic was frequently present in the primary course
of the disease. In other cases it appeared in the form of
common catarrh. Perhaps there was slight cough, which was
allowed to linger without attendance to it, as there was nothiag
apparently alarming in its nature ; but in a few hours the
case is altered, and the golden period for combating the dis-
ease will too often be passed away. It now manifests itself by
more serious indications of the epizootic stage of bronchitis.
The symptoms in the early part of the disease are easily
recognised by the experienced practitioner. The patient will
perhaps be fidgety, evincing marks of intestinal irritation ;
or, at other times, the disease will be ushered in by rigor,
and, having had a previous attack of catarrh, he will be

Period fro7n A.D. 1840 to A.D. 1842. 481

defective in his appetite as the disease advances ; or there
will be dulness and disinchnation to move about ; the pulse
feeble and accelerated, ranging between sixty and seventy
beats per minute ; a bounding action at the head, while at the
jaw the action in the artery is scarcely perceptible; the
respiration quick and laborious, accompanied with- mucous
rale or rattle ; the mucous membrane of the nose injected ;
the countenance betraying anxiety ; occasional discharge
from the nostrils; the mouth hot and dry; the animal
searching about in the loose-box to obtain as much fresh air
as possible ; the extremities moderately warm ; the bowels
rather constipated. This is succeeded in two or three days
by a rapid prostration of strength. If he is led about, he will
stagger and reel. The cough is now very painful, but the
pathognomonic symptoms require to be carefully watched. . , .

' Having traced the disease thus far in its progress, I shall
point out another organ but too often affected, either com-
bined or uncombined with the other organs attacked, viz.

the heart and its capsule In a former part of this paper

it was mentioned that in some instances of the disease the
heart was full and bounding in its action, although at the
radial and submaxillary arteries it would be quick, feeble, and
irregular. . . . Should the disease, then, manifest itself in the
type under which I have viewed it, it is evident that other
symptoms will arise independently of the peculiarity in the.
action of the heart and arteries. Accordingly we find a
greater prostration of strength ; the animal is dull, and his
eyelids pendulous over his eyes ,; his head resting on the
manger; disinclination to move; appetite diminished ; drop-
sical swellings in various parts of the body ; suppressed
secretion of urine, etc. Towards the latter stage of the dis-
ease the hinder extremities fail, and paralysis of them takes
place ; all the functions in the body are depressed ; the
swelling increases until the animal . drops and is unable to
rise again ; and then death puts an end to his miserable exist-
ence The post-mortem examinations of the cases that

have proved fatal are as follows : In the abdominal cavity
nothing particular could be found connected with the ali-

31

482

History of Animal Plagues.

mentary canal, except a few petechial spots on the external
surface of the tube. The liver presented a morbid hue, being
quite hepatized, and easily lacerated ; in some there was an
effusion of serum within the cavity. The kidneys were large, and
displayed the effects of inflammation. The bladder was per-
fectly healthy, and generally found empty ; extensive patches
of extravasated blood and serum were underneath the iliacus
and psoal muscles ; and this effusion continued through the
whole course of the crural and sciatic nerves, as they pro-
ceeded from that portion of the spinal marrow to their ter-
mination among the different muscles. In examining this
cavity of the body, all the organs participated more or less
in a morbid condition. The substance of the lungs in some
cases was evidently abnormal ; the bronchial tubes suffered
in proportion to the extent of the disease in them, being very
much injected, and full of frothy mucus. Effusion of serum
to a greater or less extent appeared, and adhesion betwixt the
pleura pulmonalis and costalis. Connected with the heart
and pericardium, there was effusion within the membrane,
consisting of bloody serum. The external surface was of a
purple colour, and very much thickened in its coats, arising
from a deposition of coagulated lymph during the active stage
of the inflammation. The heart, in one or two instances, was
much enlarged, and its colour changed from its natural pink
to a dark purple, with numerous spots of ecchymosis on its
external and internal surface, and changed from its natural
structure to a hepatized one ; in fact, it had lost that firm

dense muscular feeling which it previously possessed

I conceive it as more or less a disease of the heart and its
surrounding membrane, and also connected with the organs
of respiration.'^

For some years rabies has been more than usually frequent
in the dog, and in some countries even assumed an epizootic
form. Herr Eckel, of Vienna, in a masterly summary of the
history of this dreaded affection, makes the following obser-
vations : 'It is not the first time that rabies in dogs has
appeared as an epizooty in this capital and its neighbourhood ;
1 T. Mather. The Veterinarian, vol. xvi. p. 512.

Period from A.D. 1840 to A.D. 1842. 483

and if the accounts of the disease in the last century, and
even before that period, are meagre, those of the earlier part
of the present century are more to be depended upon.^
According to the most reliable accounts, there occurred not
more than four or five cases of sporadic madness among dogs
annually in Vienna and its vicinity between 1808 and 18 14.
The disease first appeared in Vienna as an epizooty in 18 14,
when it commenced in October with five cases of madness,
and terminated in December with fifteen cases. The malady
increased in virulence in 181 5, seven cases occurring in
January ; and the number increased during that year to forty-
six. According to Professor Waldinger, who watched and
described it, there could be no doubt as to the epizootic
character of the disorder, as in by far the largest number of
instances — forty-three — the dogs attacked by it had not been
bitten. Peculiar atmospheric conditions preceded and accom-
panied it ; and, at last, diseases dependent upon the weather,
with disturbance of the functions of the skin, as, for instance,
rheumatism, arthritis, mange ischdbe), were unusually fre-
quent among dogs. Among other domestic animals, disorders
of the vena portae system were prevalent. From 18 16 to
1830, madness continued to appear in a few individual sporadic
cases, although during this period it raged epizootically in
Bavaria, Vorarlberg, Switzerland, and Saxony, and especially
in the years 1828 and 1829 in Dresden, where it was very
carefully observed and described by Professor Prinz. In 1830,
it again appeared epizootically in Vienna with thirty-nine
cases, and seems then to have ceased for some time ; for in
the succeeding seven years, from 1831 until the end of 1837,
nothing was heard of it here or elsewhere. It was remark-
able that in the hot summer of 1834, only one case occurred
in the capital. In 1838, a new cycle commenced with seven-
teen cases of rabies, which increased in the following year to
sixty-three; in 1840 the number sank to thirty-seven cases,
and in 1841 it reached one hundred and forty-one, a number

1 For the epizooties of rabies in the last century, see our previous volume on
'Animal Plagues.' The earliest on record is that alluded to in the Welsh laws of
Howel the Good (see first volume, page 56).

31—2

4^4 History of Animal Plagues.

never attained here previously. The following circumstances
were noticed during the prevalence of the disease ; by far the
most common form of the malady was the raging madness
{die rasende wuth), of which there were eighty cases ; of the
dumb madness {stille wuth) only thirty-one.

'The months of February and May, in each of which
twenty-one cases occurred, were the worst ; then April, June,
and January, with eighteen, seventeen, and sixteen cases
respectively ; and September, November and December, with
five or four cases each. Of the hundred and forty-one cases,
fifteen were bitches ; the remaining hundred and twenty-six
were dogs. No castrated dog was attacked. Of the fifteen
bitches, it could not be ascertained that either of them had
been bitten by a mad or even suspected dog. Most of the
animals attacked were strong, healthy, and middle-aged — from
two to seven years old ; of dogs under a year old only two
were affected, and of dogs over seven years only one. By far
the greater number attacked were pet dogs {luxiishunde), or
house dogs which were well cared for.'^

In Wurtemberg, madness in dogs was prevalent from
September, 1839, until the end of 1842. Some writers
imagined it had been transmitted from foxes.^ In the Grand
Duchy of Baden, from January ist, 1840, to the end of Feb-
ruary, 1842, rabies was also noticed in two hundred and thirty-
two dogs and twenty-one bitches.^

In Lyons, the period for 1839-40 is thus noticed: 'The
distemper in young dogs has been common this year. It has
killed a certain number of these animals by the inflammation
fixing itself on the lungs and the pleura ; but the nervous
disorders and the rheumatic conditions accompanying the
malady have been apparently less frequent ; a circumstance
due, we believe, to the temperature, which has not been
extreme ; the cold and the heat having been moderate, or at
least not long continued. Madness {rage) has not been more
frequent, for the same reason.'* In the Covipte Rendu of the

^ Eckel. Mittheilungen CKsterreich. Veter. vol. i. p. 55.

Herivg. Repertoriuni, vols. ii. p. 91, iii. p. 285. ^ Ibid. vol. iii. p. 274.
* Recueil de Med. Veter. vol. xviii. p. 23.

Period from A.D. 1840 to A.D. 1842. 485

same school, however, for the year 1840-41, M. Rey states:
* During the year the cases of rabies have manifested them-
selves in a great number of the dog species ; out of sixty-four
of these animals kept under observation, thirty-three have
shown symptoms of this affection, and have succumbed. It is
to the sudden diminutions of temperature after the great
heats, to the cold affecting the skin, that ought to be attributed
the spontaneous and so frequent appearance of this redoubt-
able malady. The autopsies have not furnished anything
remarkable. We have observed four new cases of madness
transmitted accidentally by dogs to solipeds — two horses, an
ass, and a mule. The saliva of the mule, when inoculated on
two dogs, did not produce any result. . . . Already we possess
some facts which only tend to prove that the virus preserves
its virulency in passing through many animals. On two
occasions a dog affected with transmitted rabies has caused
the infection of another animal of the same species. A ram,
aged fifteen months, bitten in the lip by a dog affected with
spontaneous rabies, contracted the malady in eleven days. By
inoculation with the lancet, the virus of this ruminant has
developed the disease, in about thirty-five days, in another
ram of the same age. Here is then an example of the trans-
mission from one herbivorous ruminant to another, of the
rabies communicated by a carnivorous creature. In three
experiments, we have observed that of two dogs bitten at the
same time, the first one only took the disease ; may we then
think, with Dr. Marochetti, that after the first bites the virus
is weakened The same author reports for the year 1841-42 :
' During this year the city of Lyons has been terrified by the
frequent outbreaks of rabies ; eight persons have perished in
consequence of bites by dogs attacked by this malady. Owing
to the energetic measures enforced by the care of the municipal
authorities, three thousand wandering dogs have been killed.
Never has the school received so great a number of hydro-
phobic animals ; out of one hundred and four dogs which
have died in the hospital under the influence of several affec-
tions, sixty-two have perished from rabies. It is not easy to

1 Key. Recueil de Med. Vc'ter. vol. xviii. p. 760.

4^6 History of Animal Plagues.

assign the causes of the frequency of so redoubtable a malady ;
it is here especially that we must recognise the difficulty of
discovering the etiology of the malady. In 1842 rabies mani-
fested itself in an enzootic manner, not only in our city, but
also at Aix, Nimes, and Rouen, in different climates, under
opposite atmospherical conditions, and at diverse periods.
Nevertheless, it was during the month of June last, in the hot
weather, that we observed the cases to be most numerous.
Hitherto it has been recognised that it was necessary to seek
for one of the most active causes of rabies in the intemperatures
of the weather, and especially in the sudden transition from
an elevated temperature to cold showers of rain, so frequent
in the vicinity of mountains. But it is necessary to note,
before everything else, and in connection with our sanitary
police, the facility with which the disease may be transmitted
by vagrant dogs, who are exposed in great numbers to the
attacks of hydrophobes, and who, in the absence of all sur-
veillance, contracting the disease in their turn, will spread it
in a frightful manner. We bring to the support of this asser-
tion the statement that the examples of communicated rabies
have been far more frequent than the spontaneous cases, and
that the scourge has soon disappeared after the measures of
destruction ordered by the authorities were enforced. In
compiling our registers of mortality for the canine species, we
notice that since the year 181 1 — during the space of thirty
years — there died in the infirmary seven hundred and seventy-
nine dogs attacked with rabies. The malady has been ob-
served at all seasons of the year, but in different proportions :
June exceeds all the other months ; April comes nearest to it,
and then in decreasing proportions come May, July, August,
March, and September, February and October, January and
November, until at last December is reduced to the smallest
number.' 1 In 1843, there were only fourteen cases of rabies
reported from this school.*

The year 1841 must be regarded as an important and
memorable one in our history, from the circumstance that the
contagious pleuro-pneumonia of cattle, which, as we have
1 Recueil de Med. Veter. vol. xx. p. 121. " Ibid. p. 756-

Period from A.D. 1840 to A.D. 1842. 487

recently seen, had been steadily extending itself on the con-
tinent of Europe, appeared about the middle or towards the
end of the year in England. So late as 1840 it was severely
felt among the herds in France at the Pas-de-Calais, and had
attracted the attention of the French Government ; and there
can be no doubt that it was prevalent, and very destructive, in
Holland for some years previous to this date. When it first
manifested itself in that country, however, is uncertain. Van
Hertum asserts that it had caused cruel ravages there before
it was brought to us ; he believed it to be contagious, and
declares that the contagium was imported from a foreign
source. In this opinion he is supported by Mecke and Peters,
Dutch veterinarians, who maintain that this disease was un-
known in Holland in 1829, or even in 1836.1 It appears,
however, to have been prevalent in Holland in the former
period, for an extensive importer of cattle, Mynheer Poot, of
Rotterdam, informed Professor Simonds in 1858, that when
pleuro-pneumonia first broke out in that locality in 1829, and
before experience had demonstrated that the flesh could be
safely used as food,^he and others had to kill the affected
beasts and bury them entire, with a view to prevent injury
being done to the people, as well as to limit the spread of the
malady.2 We have in previous years alluded to its prevalence
in that and other countries, and to such an extent and in such
close proximity to our own shores, that we can scarcely be
surprised to find it in England, where its presence was not
suspected until it had made considerable progress. From
what source it was derived has not been satisfactorily deter-
mined ; indeed, its previous history appears to have been alto-
gether unknown here, and its existence on the Continent quite
overlooked for some time. The trade in foreign cattle had
been increasing, and the importations of stock of all kinds
from many sources was considerable, even previous to the 9th
of July, 1842, when their admission at a small rate per head
was allowed by Act of Parliament. This trade was doubtless

^Magazin fur Thierheilkunde, vol. ix. p. 109.

2 /. B. Simonds. Report on the Cattle Plague. The Veterinarian, vol. xxxi.
P- 153-

48S History of Animal Plagues.

the cause of the introduction of the ' foot-and-mouth disease,'
and that now under consideration ; and the continuation of this
trafific on such an extensive scale, and without proper, or any
precautions, has kept Britain constantly supplied with fresh
instalments of the contagium from the infected centres abroad.
Before the development of the cattle-trade, the cattle and
sheep of this country had been, as our history testifies, remark-
ably healthy, and the sudden and wide-spread manifestation
of such serious maladies caused surprise and alarm among
agriculturists, no less than among veterinary surgeons.

Though, the disease was very acute and fatal, according to
the reports of the veterinarians, killing more than fifty per
cent, of those attacked by it, yet it does not appear to have
been so formidable or extensive as on the Continent. It
showed itself in districts very wide apart, and so closely did
it follow the ' ekzema epizootica,' that many veterinary surgeons
and medical men either confounded them, or imagined they
could trace some connection between them. Mr. Cherry,
for instance, strangely mixes up the equine influenza of 1836,
the aphthous epizooty of 1839, and the contagious pulmonary
disease of this and later years into one general malady, which
he designated the 'epidemic.'i The Veterinary Professor,
Sewell, was no more fortunate in recognising their well-marked
individual characteristics.^ And Mr. Faussett, a surgeon, com-
mitted a similar blunder, being of opinion that the eruptive
or aphthous disease was only the primary stage of the pul-
monary affection, which he accordingly named the ' secondary
distemper,' and which, he declared, it had invariably followed,
with one exception, in all the cases he had investigated.^

No disease at all approximating to this had been witnessed
in England previously to 1841 ; for though cattle were some-
times affected with pleuro-pneumonia in a sporadic form, yet
it was rare, and readily yielded to remedial measures ;
whereas this contagious pestilence presented such peculiar

^ Cherry. The Veterinarian, vols. xx. p. 644, xxi. p. 691.

^ Seivell. Report on the Epidemic among Cattle. Journal of Royal Agricultural
Society, vol. ii. p. 119.

* W. Faussett. Observations on the Epidemic Pleuro-pneumonia or Secondary
Distemper of Homed Cattle. Dublin Medical Press, vol. vi. p. 390,

Period from A.D. 1840 to A.D. 1842. 489

features — became so general, was so fatal, so utterly beyond
the influence of remedies, and presented such striking necro-
scopic appearances— that it was commonly known as the ' new
disease.'

Its introduction into England was so obscure, and its
progress so insidious, that it is not until 1842 we find it
attracting particular attention. According to Mi". Ferguson,
it began in the south-east of the island: 'This remarkable
disease manifested itself at first in the early months of the
year 1842, in the south-east of Great Britain and in Ireland.
From thence it continued to spread across the neighbouring
provinces with a fatality, it may be said, unprecedented in the
history of epizootics.'^

The late Professor Barlow, of Edinburgh, writing from
Cheshire in 1 842, says : ' About the beginning of this year a
disease appeared in our neighbourhood, proving almost uni-
versally fatal, the symptoms of which I will endeavour to
describe. The animal for the first two days appears dull,
with slight cough ; the appetite slightly diminished, and
rumination carelessly performed ; the breathing accelerated,
and the pulse of an oppressed character, and increased to 80.
On the third or fourth day the breathing becomes more
laborious, and each expiration is accompanied with a sup-
pressed groan ; the pulse has risen to go, and is of the same
character ; the appetite and rumination begin to disappear,
although in some beasts both continue until within a short
time before death ; the animal betrays great pain when struck
upon the sides, or when pinched on the lower part of the
throat ; there does not, in the majority of cases, appear to be
any constipation, nor are the bowels unduly relaxed ; the
secretion of urine is mostly limited, and is often highly
coloured. By the seventh or eighth day the symptoms are
increased in intensity : the expired breath appears like a
volley of steam issuing through some confined aperture ; there
is a large quantity of froth about the lips, which, falling on
the floor, becomes, as it were, condensed, and saturates the
litter, rendering it needful to change it often ; the pulse still

^ Ferguson. Recueil de Med. Veterinaire Pratique, vol. xx. p. 667.

490 History of Animal Plagues.

increases in frequency, but sadly loses force, and in some in-
stances is almost imperceptible. The extremities now become
cold ; the animal stands with her mouth open ; the breath and
other excretions emit a cadaverous odour ; and she dies about
the ninth day. Some cases are more acute, and terminate in
less than a week.

' The appearances after death are these : The lungs, more
especially the right lobe, are enormously enlarged, and hepa-
tized through their entire substance ; indeed, the solidity is
so great that much force is requisite to cut through them^^
When an incision is made, the external part has the appear-
ance of marble, feeling quite smooth and, as I said, solid
under the hand. When strongly compressed in the hand, the
substance loses its consistence and separates into granules
similar to the boiled liver of any animal, a reddish viscous
fluid exuding therefrom. The pleural membrane does not
exhibit much trace of inflammation, although the thoracic
cavity generally contains as much fluid as the enlarged lung
will permit. In some cases the lungs are so enlarged as to
fill and adapt themselves to the cavity of the chest, and will
weigh seventy or seventy-five pounds. The bronchial tubes
are filled with the same viscous fluid, which is also found in
flakes throughout the trachea, as far as the larynx. No
washing or maceration will separate it from the small air-cells
and bloodvessels. The heart seldom, if ever, exhibits any
diseased appearance, although in some few cases of pleuritic

^ The special anatomical disposition of the ox's lung gives it a peculiar and
characteristic appearance, when it has been submitted to pathological changes due
to inflammation ; and as it would appear that many veterinary surgeons have
been unable to discriminate between the lesions of simple pleuro-pneumonia and
those arising from the specific malady now under consideration, Professor Haubner,
of the Dresden Veterinary School, has indicated certain pathological distinctions
which experience has proved to be well-founded. He says : ' Non-contagious
pneumonia, which sometimes occurs, and is accompanied by hepatization, may be
confounded with epizootic pleuro-pneumonia. In both affections there is the
marbled appearance on a section of the diseased lung, but in the first the
hepatization is everywhere of the same age, and consequently is in the same
state and has the same tint ; while in contagious pleuro-pneumonia, the alteration
having successively invaded the pulmonary tissue, there are the hepatizations of
different periods, more especially recognisable by the variation of colour. —
Handbuch der Veter. Polizei. Dresden, 1869, p. 220.

Period from A.D. 1840 to A.D. 1842. 491

inflammation, the pericardium occasionally shares therein.
The digestive organs do not exhibit any affection connected
with this disease, excepting diarrhoea in the last stage.' The
kidneys and mucous membrane of the bladder often display
slight inflammation.'^

Mr. Cox, of Leek, Staffordshire, in the same year gives a
good description of the symptoms and pathological alterations
induced by the malady. But the question of contagion he
could not decide: 'Atmospheric agency appears to be the
cause of the disease, yet I believe it to be in some degree in-
fectious. . . . Where the infected animals have been removed,
and disinfectants freely used, its ravages have been stayed.'^

In September of this year Mr. Hales, of Oswestry, reports
the disease spreading from Cheshire into Shropshire, and its
having been more or less observed during the preceding
winter. Speaking of a post-mortem examination, he states
that ' the left lobe of the lung was immensely enlarged, and
when cut into had an appearance similar to what is called
marbled beef, and about the same consistence. This appear-
ance was produced by effusion of lymph within the substance
of the lungs ; and when a portion was pressed in the hand, a
very considerable quantity of serum exuded. . . • There was
effusion in the pericardium, and considerable adhesions of the
pleura.' 3

Mr. Youatt, also in 1842, remarks that 'another epidemic,
essentially different from the former (the " foot-and-mouth
disease"), has made its appearance, and its ravages are
dreadful. In the neighbourhood of the metropolis more than
four hundred deaths have occurred ; the writer would hardly
exaggerate if he said that nearly twice that number have either
been destroyed by the disease, or killed and sent to the butcher
before the meat was deteriorated. In its essential character,
and in the course of treatment which alone seems to possess
any control over it, it differs most materially from that of
1840. ... It seems to be originally an affection of the pleural
lining of the chest or covering of the lungs — most frequently

' /. Barlow. The Veterinarian, vol. xv. p. 438. ^ W. Cox. Ibid. p. 573.

» /. M. Hales. Ibid. p. 589.

492

History of Animal Plagues.

of the latter. ■. . . Of the primary cause we know little or
nothing ; and, so far as we have had opportunity of observing,
the disease is not essentially either infectious or contagious.
It depends on some unknown atmospheric agency. That
agency is perhaps more developed in some situations than in
others. It is more frequent and more fatal in low and marshy
land than in upland ground, provided that upland pasture is
protected. Cold and damp appear to be the principal agents

in developing it The present affection does not appear

to have connection with the disease that prevailed two years
ago.'i

Mr. Holmes, of Thirsk, Yorkshire, in March, 1843, writes:
'After 1 841 had passed, practitioners as well as farmers hoped
that the succeeding year (1842) would in a measure be exempt
from this noxious plague, as the spring set in so favourably ;
nor was there anything, apparently, to discourage such a hope
until August came ; and field-stock in general seemed in con-
dition, and, to outward appearance, to have thriven well with
their summer's graze, especially such as had been previously
reduced, but had seemingly recovered. Soon, however, from
the heat of the weather and their improved condition, many
that had to all appearance been accounted perfectly healthy
and sound, again showed symptoms of the presence of this
farmers' foe, although under a different modification; and
here I may observe that the cattle which came again under
my notice were for the most part Irish ones of 1841.'^ This
writer was evidently of opinion that the present malady
was only the 'foot-and-mouth disease' in a modified form.
' The visitation of 1842-3, so far as my observation has ex-
tended, was attributable to the animals still retaining remains
of the epizooty of 1 840-1, although apparently outwardly
quite recovered.' Cattle imported from Ireland were much
more extensively and severely affected than native stock — a
circumstance Mr. Holmes attributed to the fatigue they had
undergone.

Mr. Hayes, of Rochdale, Lancashire, thought it was an

^ W. Youatt. The Veterinarian, vol. xv. pp. 592, 604.
^ G. Holmes. Ibid. vol. xvi. p. 217.

Period from A.D. 1840 to A.D. 1842. 493

amalgamation of the symptoms of influenza with those of
;a late epizooty ('foot-and-mouth disease') affecting the
I lungs.i

Mr. Barlow, in another communication in 1843, speaks of
:its having swept away hundreds of cattle in Cheshire. He
1 carefully and correctly enumerates the symptoms, and adds :
' * It has assumed an epizootic character, occurring in all situa-
: lions and under all circumstances. Its first appearance in this
■ part was in the neighbourhood of boggy land and in woody
! localities, attacking more especially cattle recently brought
i into the country ; but it soon extended its ravages, and now
; attacked them irrespectively, in all circumstances and situa-
I tions.' Alluding to the symptoms, post-mortem appearances,
; and the general characteristics of the malady, he observes :
' • On reading the preceding account, some might suppose, and
I perhaps justly, that these symptoms and post-mortem appear-
; ances indicate merely ordinary bronchitis, pneumonia, or
pleurisy, singly or combined, as the case may be. Should
; such, however, come to treat this affection in the way usually
; and successfully pursued in isolated cases of these diseases in
; horses and cattle, they will be, as I have been, from its almost
: invariable failure, induced to adopt another course.'^ This
I esteemed teacher of veterinary science designated the malady
1 the ' pleuro-pneumonic epizootic'

Mr. Hutchinson, of East Retford, at the same period reports
: its appearance in his district, and gives a good description
. of it.3

From Cumberland, where it had also shown itself in
December, 1842, Mr. Carlisle sends some valuable observa-
tions ' on the present epidemic among cattle — a disease, from
. its mortality, of material importance. It has made its appear-
. ance in this part of Cumberland, and threatens to be a most
formidable pestilence. As sure as the animal is attacked, so
: sure is its doom sealed. . . , The present epidemic among
• cattle is of the most fatal kind. ... I cannot think the present
I epidemic is in the least connected with the previous one. . . .

1 /. Hayes. The Veterinarian, vol. xvi. p. 343.

* /. Barlow. Ibid. p. 493. ^ H. Hutchinson, Ibid. p. 658.

494

History of Animal Plagues.

Its first appearance in this country was among some Irish
cattle.' Several striking examples are afforded of the con-
tagious properties of the malady, its deadliness, and its resist-
ance to medical treatment. This enlightened practitioner,
aware of his inability to cope successfully with it by remedial
measures, and cognisant of its transmissible character, coun-
selled sanitary precautions — isolation, disinfection, etc. — and
his advice was followed with great success.^

The malady spread unchecked, and in the various news-
papers and veterinary journals there are constantly recurring
notices of its extension and devastation. In 1843, for instance,
we read of severe losses ' from the malignant influenza amongst
cattle in Shropshire, in June.'^ In October of the same year,
another newspaper states that this malady had made its
appearance in the northern counties in its most virulent
shape ; and a Derby journal reports the loss from it, in a
district of eight or ten miles round that city, within the pre-
vious year, at ^2,000.^

In Scotland, it appeared about the same time as in Eng-
land. Mr. Fulton, of Wigton, in the beginning of 1843, states:
' About a fortnight ago, I was called to a dairy of fifty cows ;
one had died a week previously, one was lying dead, and
another died on the following day.' The dairy stock was
nearly exterminated on this farm in a brief period, and all the
bodies examined presented the same unmistakable lesions.
' The farm is on the Carse of Cree, lying low, but the cow-
house is in every way comfortable. This is the fourth year
that a dairy has been on the farm, and it had hitherto done
well. The cows are in good condition.'*

The disease spread over Scotland, appearing at first in
localities into which new stock had been introduced, especially,
from fairs.

From a large balance of evidence, however, we are inclined

1 J. Carlisle. The Veterinarian, vol. xvi. p. 282.

2 The Wolverhampton Chronicle.

3 The Derby Mercury. With regard to the origin of the malady, the Lancet
in 1845 strangely mistook it for the Cattle Plague, and ascribed its source to the
plains of Russia, ' where it reigns epidemically.'

* r. Fulton. Ibid. p. 277.

Period from A.D. 1840 to A.D. 1842. 495

to believe that the epizooty first showed itself in Ireland, and
was carried from that country into England and Scotland.
For instance, the veterinary professor, Ferguson, in a very
instructive lecture delivered in Dublin in the middle of 1842,
says : ' A period of nearly three years has elapsed since the
first appearance in this country of an epizooty among horned
cattle, the chief characteristic of which was a pustular affection
of the mouth, nose, and feet. Previous to being observed in
Ireland, it had existed for some time in the sister island,

England Fortunately this disease was short in its

sojourn, mild in its effects, and extremely easy of treatment,
. . . . Unfortunately, although the pustular disease was so
mild in its effects on every description of animal which it
attacked, lambs excepted, it was merely the precursor of one
of the most fatal forms of distemper that has been known to
exist within the present memory of man. I allude to that
which at present reigns with sad mortality through almost
every county in Ireland. It has now been in this island nearly
eighteen months, during which time the fatality among neat
cattle has been, in a proportion of twenty to one, greater than

at any former period Its principal seat is the organs

bf respiration, particularly the lungs, their covering,' etc. The
professor, unfortunately, did not believe in the contagiousness
of the malady. ' Although the pustular affection which pre-
ceded the present epizooty was highly contagious, the latter
I believe, from much observation, not to be at all so.'^ In
this lecture the disease is graphically and minutely described,
particularly its pathological anatomy.

Mr. Lord, writing from county Cork in July, 1841, states
that 'pneumonia in cattle is at present very prevalent and
fatal in this part of Ireland, although at a very unusual season
for such a complaint' ^

In a newspaper for September, 1841, there is the following
brief but unmistakable notice : ' In the end of August we
learn that a new distemper has appeared amongst cattle in
the county of Cork. It is more destructive to life than the
last distemper (aphthous fever), the respiration is affected, and

^ H.Ferguson. The Veterinarian, vol. xv. p. 5 75. * W. C.Lord. Ibid. vol. xiv. p. 401.

496 History oj Animal Plagues.

it is very difficult to cure.'^ In October we read : ' Pneumonia
is the general character of the epidemic at present prevailing
amongst cattle in this county (Cork).'^

In county Meath, it would also appear that the epizooty
began in 1841, for Mr. Barnes, in reply to some queries ad-
dressed to him, writes: 'The distemper began in 1841, in
this neighbourhood, and was worse in 1842, when it was very
general and fatal. I cannot say when it ceased, for it con-
tinued very general for seven or eight years All breeds

and all ages are equally subject to it It was a very

infectious disease, and spread rapidly. It was most prevalent

in 1842, 1843, and 1844 The mortality was about

twenty per cent.'^

Veterinary Surgeon Doyle thought the disease first ap-
peared in the vicinity of Dublin, as early as 1840.

Mr. Faussett, in 1841, notices the wide prevalence and
destructiveness of the epizooty in Ireland. ' The epidemic
distemper of horned cattle has of late raged with violence in
many of the grazing and pastoral districts of this country ;
carrying off, in some instances, whole herds of some of the
largest and highest bred of the species.'*

In Roscommon it was observed in 1842, and in Gal way and
Limerick in 1843.^

That the disease was present in Ireland before it manifested
itself in England, and that it was introduced into the latter
by Irish cattle, appears to have been recognised at this early
period of its history in this country. Mr. Relph, of Seberg-
ham, who has furnished a good account of it, remarks : ' The
distemper among cattle appeared in Ireland in 1841, and
spread itself in that country, and at length gained the western
coast of England, and the northern one of Scotland. In
August, 1842, a farmer on an open plain near the centre of
the maritime county of Cumberland, bought four Irish stirks.
In October one of these became ill . . . but it died. Soon
after another of the lot was in like manner affected ' — and this

1 Saunders's News Letter. * Olden. Irish Farmers' Magazine.

3 The Census of Ireland for 185 1. * Faussett. DubHn Medical Press.

^ For other notices of the epizooty at this time, see the Census of Ireland for the
year 1841, part 5, vol. i. pp. 222, 226, 227, 229, 236, 371.

Period from A.D. 1840 to A.D. 1842. 497

also died. ' The illness next showed itself in two of his milch-
cows^ in the latter part of December, and for two months
afterwards fresh cases continued to occur in this stock.' ^ It
may be remarked that this veterinarian believed the disease
to be contagious, and that it possessed ' the singular pi'operty
of cleaving to the animal for weeks, or even months, without
perceptibly disturbing the animal economy.'

And Mr. Copeman, of Walpole, Norfolk, writing in January,
1845, after tracing the course of the affection, remarks : ' We
do not hear of its existence in this country until the com-
mencement of 1842, when we find, in several of the public
papers, paragraphs stating that it was then raging, with great
fatality, in many of the metropolitan dairy establishments
. . . . Thus we are led to infer that this disease commenced
in Ireland,; and, as most of the Irish cattle are imported at
Liverpool, we first hear of its existence at that part of our
isle. In a short time it finds its way into Cheshire, Shrop-
shire, and Middlesex ; but it is not heard of in any of these
parts until 1842, although it had been raging in Ireland for
nearly twelve months before.' Instances are given of cases
which came under his own observation, which prove that the
contagion was introduced into England and Scotland by
Irish cattle.2

This malady and foot-and-mouth disease continued their
ravages in the three kingdoms until 1866, merely because no
steps were adopted to carry into effect the simplest preventive
measures. At a late period, a medical gentleman was appointed
by the Government to investigate the nature of the lung malady,
and recommended what he thought was necessary for its sup-
pression ; but utterly ignorant of comparative pathology, and
knowing nothing of the history of the disease, he of course con-
founded it with the Cattle Plague which visited England in the
last century, and embodied his erroneous opinions in a Blue
Book.3 The losses caused by the two diseases in the United
Kingdom can never be fairly estimated,but they have amounted

Relph. The Veterinarian, vol. xvii. p. 647.
A. S. Copeman. Ibid. vol. xvii. p. 10, vol. xviii. p. 67.
^ Headlam Grecnhoiu, M.D. Report on Murrain in Homed Cattle. For further
information concerning the epizooty about this period, see G. Waters. Essay on

32

498

History of Animal Plagues.

to very many millions of pounds. They have proved not only a
most serious scourge to the nation, but to their presence must
largely be attributed the depressed state of agriculture.

On the Continent, in 1842, this disease had invaded Hol-
stein, and in 1843 it caused so much alarm that the Danish
Government deputed a veterinary surgeon to observe it, and
report on its progress.^

In 1844 its ravages were terribly severe in Switzerland. In
Oberengadin, a valley in that country, no less than from three
to four thousand head of cattle perished. Its contagious
character was well-marked. Wirth says: 'In the year 1843
this disease began in a few places, and spread in a very serious
manner until the present time (1846) in the Canton Zurich,
extending continuously every year, as I have shown in my
history of this plague in the canton f and simultaneously it
broke out in the Duchy of Baden, and the Kingdom of
Wurtemberg, the infection having been carried into both
places from the Swiss States.' ^

Pleuro-pneumonia, Journal Royal Agricultural Society, vol. ix. J. B. Simonds.
The Nature and Treatment of Pleuro-pneumonia in the Ox, ibid. vol. x. Finlay
Dun. Essay on Pleuro-pneumonia, Higliland and Agricultural Society's Journal.

V- B. Simonds. Report on the Cattle Plague. The Veterinarian, vol. xxxi.
p. 159-

* Archiv fiir Thierheilkunde, vols. ii. iv. v. vi.

^ Wirth. Op. cit. The principal continental veterinary authorities who have
written on the malady up to this date are :

Kausch. Originalbemerkungen iiber die Rindviehsterben. Leipsic, 1 790.
Sander. Beitrage zur Prakt. und Gerichtl. Thierheilkunde. Berlin, 1810.
Lappe. Ueber die Ansteckende Lungenseuche des Rindviehsterben.
Gottingen, 1818.

Havematin. Ueber die Lungenseuche beim Rindviehsterben, in Andre's

Okonomischen Neuigkelten. No. 39, 1819.
Ithe7i. Ansicht iiber die Lungenseuche. Archiv fiirThierheillcunde, vol. i.p.7S.
Ernst. Bemerkungen iiber die Lungensucht des Rindviehsterben; ibid.

vol. iii. p. 208.

Kiindig. Beitrage zur Kenntnitz der Lungenseuche des Rindviehsterben ;
ibid. p. 390.

Wirth. Nachtrage zu Ernst's Bemerkungen iiber die Lungensucht; ibid.

vol. iv. p. 250. Lehrbuch der Seuchen, etc. Zurich, 1846, p. 289.
Ndtel. Die Lungenseuche des Rindviehsterben. Nordhausen, 1828.
Vix. Beobachtungen uber die Lungenseuche beim Rindviehsterben. Busch.

Zeitschrift fiir Thierheilkunde, vol. i.
Sdmeider. Ueber die Lungenseuche. Heiile. Zeitschrift f. Staatsarzneikunde,

zehnter Jahrgang, Vierteljahrschrift, No. 2.

Period from A.D. [840 to A.D. 1842. 499

It is worthy of observation that Austria, harassed by the
Cattle Plague, yet suffered much less than some other countries
— our own, for example — from this contagious lung disease.
With the exception of Bohemia, Moravia, and part of the
Tyrol, it is but little spread, and in Hungary would appear
to be almost unknown. The existence of any special immunity
from the disease in the Hungarian breed of cattle seems
doubtful ; and, according to Roll,i it is more probable that if the
malady is less frequently witnessed among this bovine race, it is
because the agricultural industry of that country is of little
importance, the cattle receive an alimentation more appropriate
to their nature, and up to the present time the importation of
foreign stock has been of the most limited character.

The Cattle Plague was introduced into Egypt in 1841, and
raging until 1844, is calculated to have destroyed six hundred
and sixty-five thousand head of cattle. The Times newspaper
for October 27th, 1842, states that 'in Lower Egypt the dis-
ease among the oxen has caused dreadful losses, eighty-four
thousand of these animals having perished throughout Egypt.
The Pacha had, in consequence, been obliged to send three
regiments of artillery, with their horses, to his farms, in order
to assist in tilling the ground. He had also imported a
number of horses from Tarsus, which were conveyed in two
frigates to Alexandria, and were intended for the same
destination.'

While the identity of the malady has not been disputed, its
origin— whether imported into Egypt or generated spon-
taneously—has been questioned. To settle the matter, the
late M. Renault, Inspector-General of the French Veterinary
Schools, collected all available evidence, and this affords the

Wageiifeld. Die Lungenseuche des Rindviehsterben. Dantzic, 1832.
Dielrichs. Ueber die Lungenseuche des Rindviehsterben. Berlin, 1821.
SatUer. Die Lungenseuche des Rindviehsterben, etc., Winterthur. Zurich
1835-

Euers. Die Gelegenheitsursachen der Lungenseuche des Rindviehsterben.

Gurlt und Hertwig. Magazin, third year, p. 384.
Delafond. Traite sur la Malade de Poitrine du Gros Betail. Paris, 1844.
And various papers in the Recueil de Med. Veter. and the Magazin "fur
Thierheilkunde.
^ Roll. Lehrbuch der Pathologie, third edition, vol. i.

32—2

500 History of Animal Plagues.

strongest presumptive proof in favour of the malady having
been introduced by Steppe cattle. The following is a sum-
mary of the evidence, which is very interesting : ' In 1840, the
Viceroy of Egypt having divided the greater part of the terri-
tory of Egypt into appanages for his children and the high
civil and military functionaries of his government, and
reserving for himself vast properties, the necessity for culti-
vating the ground to a greater extent was felt. But the
number of animals proper for labour, and above all for the
irrigation of the soil, being insufficient, it was imperative to
procure more from foreign countries. For this purpose, the
Viceroy, his son Ibrahim, and several other great proprietors,
sent agents into Anatolia and Karamania — countries which,
by their proximity, the quality, quantity^ and price of the
cattle they furnish, seemed to offer the greatest advantages.
Numerous purchases were made there during the winter of
1840-41, and considerable herds were collected for embarka-
tion in the towns of Adana, Tarsus, and Kazauli. But before
their embarkation a destructive epizootic disease broke out
among them, and caused the death of a great number. In-
stead of abandoning those animals to the disease which
decimated them, efforts were made to send them off to Egypt
towards the close of the spring of 1841. As might have been
easily foreseen, the disease continued on board the vessels in
which they were conveyed, and during their transport it
became necessary to throw many of them into the sea. As to
those which survived, they were landed at Alexandria in a
generally deplorable condition. This transportation was
carried on for the two following years under the same cir-
cumstances, with the same accidents and the same losses.
Now, the disease, far from becoming milder, seemed, on the
contrary, to increase in intensity after the landing of the
animals at Alexandria, and therefore their proprietors hastened
to scatter them in the surrounding plains, hoping thereby to
diminish the chances of mortality. But this was not the
case ; the animals carried everywhere the germs of the malady,
which had already caused the death of a great number, and
spread it among animals of their species in every place into

Period from A.D. 1840 to A.D. 1842. 501

which they penetrated. From thence the contagion extended
rapidly into Lower Egypt, the Delta, and penetrated even
into Upper Egypt, attacked also the buffaloes, and caused
three-fifths of the horhed cattle to perish ; and it made such
ravages that, contrary to the practice in that country, they
were obliged to make use for agricultural purposes of horses,
asses, mules, and camels.' From this it is clear that the malady
did not first appear in Egyptian oxen, but in the cattle of Syria
and Turkey, and it was to supply extraordinary demands that
they were imported into Egypt. It was not even during their
voyage that the disease sho\ved itself ; it was in Syria, before
their embarkation. According to documents furnished by the
Egyptian Administration, it is distinctly made out that these
cattle not only came from the interior of Anatolia and Kara-
mania, which certainly furnished a good number of them, but
that they were procured in Roumelia,/r<?7;2 the banks of the
Damibe, and from Moldavia. The oxen of these regions
belong to the Steppe breed, and it is in Southern Russia that
the disease usually rages most violently. M. Renault adduces
proof to show that this particular breed was seen in Egypt.
M. Ismail, an Egyptian veterinary surgeon, writes: 'In 1843,
in consequence of the disasters occasioned by contagious
typhus among the horned cattle of Egypt, there were brought
from abroad and from SoutJiern Russia, I believe, herds of
cattle, which arrived by the Mediterranean. I was in Alex-
andria when they were landed. They were of the middle
size, and their proportions were irregular, their bodies gross
and thick, the head strong and large, their muzzles of a slate
colour, their napes furnished with strong hair, the back and
loins short, slightly arched; their horns were long in the
majority — short, however, in some of them ; their chest short
and lank, the members strong, the tail hanging low, gross and
furnished with long and strong hair. The dominant tint of
their hair was what is called light mouse and slate colour ;
never red or bay. What is very remarkable is that on the
whole length and in the middle of the dorso-lumbar region,
there are hairs of varied length, forming a ridge from the
shoulder to the tail. Some also had similar hair under the

502

History of Animal Plagues.

belly, on the jaws and the quarters. It was not the first time,
I may state, that I had seen cattle of that breed. I had
noticed such cattle eighteen months previously in the farms of
Ibrahim Pacha, son of his Highness the Viceroy.'^ As M,
Renault observes, this is a faithful portrait of the Steppe ox,
and its presence coincides too remarkably with the intro-
duction of the disease into Egypt to admit of anything like
reasonable doubt as to the origin of the outbreak. Additional
proof is furnished in a Russian document sent to the French
Minister for Foreign Affairs, which says : ' In the governments
in which the Steppes are situated, there are estimated to be
six million cattle reared for slaughter, and these are sold in
Russia, Poland, Germany, Anatolia, Karamania, and even in
Syria.

Elsewhere we have a more circumstantial description of
this Egyptian visitation, which possesses considerable interest
to those engaged in tracing the origin and spread of animal
contagions : ' Towards the end of the year 1841, a ship going
from Karamania (in Asia Minor) to Alexandria lost one
hundred out of two hundred oxen which constituted its cargo.
These animals, as M. Renault has shown from official docu-
ments, were Steppe cattle from Moldavia, as well as oxen
from the interior of Anatolia and Karamania. On the arrival
of the ship at Alexandria, the remaining animals were declared
to be affected. In order that they might be more effectually
treated, they were landed and driven to a village close at
hand, with orders that they should be kept in strict quarantine.
This injunction was not attended to in 1842 ; consequently
the Plague broke out among the Egyptian cattle; and the
proprietors, in order to get rid of the affected beasts, drove
them to the important market of Tantalo, a village in the
Delta. This unwise expedient spread the contagion, and in
a short time the Plague covered the whole of Egypt. Its
stay was, however, brief; for in the spring of 1843 it disap-
peared, most of the animals having been destroyed. Towards

M/. Renatdt. Le Typhus Contagieux des Betes Bovine, peut-il Naitre
Spontanement sur les Animaux de I'Espece Bovine Etrangers a la Race des
Steppes. Paris, 1856. A very able treatise, which may be said to have been the
means of preserving France from the ravages of the Cattle Plague in 1865.

Period fro7n A.D. 1840 to A.D. 1842. 503

the close of the same year large numbers of cattle passed from
Nubia into Egypt, especially towards Ghizeh, where the pesti-
lence had committed the greatest havoc. The disease, which
had perhaps not been completely extinguished in the spring,
broke out again, and killed nearly every animal attacked, not-
withstanding that many precautions were taken. Buffaloes
also were affected. Ninety per cent, of the entire herds of
Egypt caught the contagious fever, and the losses in 1842
amounted to 300,000 head ; on the second invasion, in 1843,
to 350,000 ; and on the third, 15,000 ; that is to say, in three
years 665,000 fell a prey to the malady.'^

In 1842 and 1843 this fearfully destructive pest ravaged the
Tchernamov country, to which, however, it was confined by
severe measures on the Don and at Taman, all communication
being interdicted.^

Mr. Yearnes, British Consul at Odessa, makes us acquainted
with another outbreak which manifested itself in August,
1844, and the manner in which it became spread northwards
through Bessarabia, Podolia, and Volhynia, and by Poland
and Prussia to the shores of the Baltic : ' This distemper,
having caused an immense loss of horned cattle in Southern
Russia, was mentioned by me in my despatch. . . . The dis-
ease has been called the " Cattle or Siberian (?) Plague." The
grey-coloured breed, alone indigenous upon the Steppes, is
thought to be particularly subject to it ; and many persons are
assured that this country is never entirely free from it, though it
may remain unnoticed during a long time while inactive and
restricted to obscure parts. Under certain circumstances, some
of which may be explained, the disease acquires great in-
tensity, and, becoming violently contagious, spreads throughout
the country. ... Its original seat is believed to be Bessarabia,
though the people of that province say that the contagion was
brought to them from Galicia — an opinion probably erroneous.
. . . Last autumn was exceedingly dry, and the winter mode-
rate though long. The season and the temperature seem in
no way whatever to affect the intensity or duration of this

'y. Gamgcc. The Cattle Plague.

^ Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, October, 1845.

504 History of Animal Plagues.

destructive disease. That it is supremely contagious is uni-
versally believed ; but phenomena similar to those of the
cholera have been observed, which seem to give it the cha-
racter also of an epidemic.

' The following description of the symptoms and course of
the disease I believe to be correct. It was given to me by an
intelligent proprietor, and it has been confirmed to me by the
evidence of many others : The infected animal loses its appe-
tite, and ceases to ruminate ; it remains long motionless on
its legs, which seem to be stiffened ; the ears are cold and
pendent. Later, the eyes begin to water, and a slimy foam
drops from the mouth; the beast becomes agitated, lying
down and getting up often ; little thirst ; and the hair along
the back is bristled up. At length, too weak to rise, it remains
upon the ground moaning, the flanks heaving quickly, and
with every appearance of cruel sufferings that end in death.
In most cases a dysentery, preceded by constipation, comes
on at the second period of the disorder, with evacuations ex-
ceedingly offensive. The constipation does in some cases,
however, continue to the end,

'On bodies being opened after death, aliments are dis-
covered in the stomach and intestines agglomerated into a
hardened mass ; all the viscera in a high state of inflamma-
tion ; and, in some individuals, a sanguine congestion towards
the head, with the skin reddened with blood.

* The same authority states that the more vigorous animals
are generally the first to be attacked, and that almost all of
them die, whereas the weaker often recover. Cows, calves,
and oxen become infected, without distinction of age. Some
sink under the disease within the first forty-eight hours ;
others on the third, fourth, or fifth day. The convalescence of
the animals that recover lasts from twelve to fifteen days ;
during the first three or four they remain recumbent, without
the power of rising. The cows that recover always lose their
calves by abortion, and it is added that cows of an infected
herd, tvithout having sickened themselves, genei'ally lose their
calves in the same manner. . . .

' With respect to the medical treatment practised and re-

Period from A.D. 1840 to A.D. 1842. 505

commended here, a great many modes have been cried up, of
none of which the benefit is sufficiently authenticated to
authorize their enumeration ; and I have heard sensible and
experienced men declare that the acuteness of the malady
defies all remedies till now known. I presume, however, to
make mention of one of a very simple nature, that many
assert has been found available at the first stage — namely, a
decoction of linseed, first ground into a coarse flour, and boiled
in water with some nitre. The patient is to swallow a bottle
of this in the morning, and another at night ; intestinal injec-
tions of the same being made in cases of costiveness. The
measures upon which all opinions agree are those that have in
view the preservation from contagion. For this purpose the
Government of Austria has forbidden, since many months,
the passage of Russian cattle across her frontiers. The
Russian Government took similar precautions upon the Don
in 1842 and 1843 ; and the order is now everywhere enforced,
that the dead bodies of infected cattle are to be buried imme-
diately, and without subtracting the hides or any other part of
them. So great is thought to be the contagious power of the
Cattle Plague, that dogs feeding on the carrion may, it is said,
convey the infection, as likewise herdsmen, by carrying along
with them mephitic effluvia in their clothes. With greater
reason is the ground considered to be contagious over which
diseased cattle have passed ; and even ponds and wells where
they have been watered, on the surface of which the mucous
discharge floats like an oily substance. That cattle may be
preserved from infection by the prevention of all dangerous
contact has been proved in several instances known to myself;
and I am told, further, that on a separation of the sick from
each other, recoveries become more frequent.

' I am intimate with a gentleman who holds a small estate
near Akerman, in Bessarabia, his lands lying within the
Lcinan, the Dneister, and the sea. He was the more easily
enabled to shut out communication with all stray cattle, in
consequence of which his own stock was entirely saved, while
that in the immediate neighbourhood all perished ; for in no
other part of the country was the disease more violent. I am

5o6

History of Animal Plagues.

acquainted with another person who has a large estate in the
government of Cherson, and who escaped loss by similar pre-
cautions. Previously to the breaking out of the disease he had
sold produce to be taken away by the purchasers, and, rather
than allow strange bullocks to come upon his grounds, he
voluntarily undertook the labour and expense of the delivery
upon an assigned and distant spot. I also know a district in the
Taurida that was entirely free from the disease till two yoke
of oxen came with goods from a distant quarter to the estate
of a lady. It broke out there a few days after, upon which
the neighbouring proprietors, with the consent of all parties,
instituted measures by which it was confined to that one
place, where it soon wore itself out. These instances, and
many similar, bear upon the power of contagion ; but there
are others equally notorious, from which the same inferences
cannot be drawn.

'An estate of 15,000 acres, about twelve miles from Odessa,
was divided last year between three brothers. The share
upon the high-road was early infected, and of eighty-five
head of horned cattle thirty-two quickly perished. The second
share was not immediately attacked, for the disease went
round and destroyed eight hundred in a Bulgarian colony,
and a great number in other estates close to the back of it ;
and it was not till two months later that the infection reached
that share, and carried off- twenty-five beasts out of the
eighty. But, strange to say_, the third share has entirely
escaped to the present day, though contiguous ; and no pre-
cautions were taken in either case against communication,
and its produce was carried to market without interruption.
In the district of Yampol, in Podolia, a large village upon one.
side of a small rivulet escaped infection, while another closely
opposite lost its whole stock ; and a third village on the same
side as the healthy one, and only a short distance lower down,
was equally unfortunate.

'The disease appears sometimes to pursue a capricious
course. It will also advance upon a direct track, without
spreading infection laterally ; thus, it will ravage one-half of
a village, and leave the other half free. It will then make a

Period from A.D. 1840 to A.D. 1842. 507

(Circuit, returning and attacking places that had remained un-
: injured. It will likewise come back to the same place twice
1 or thrice. I have heard some persons say that they lost their
.strong working bullocks, then their cows and calves, at dif-
Iferent periods. To trace the course of the disease upon the
I map, however desirable, cannot be attempted with any assur-
;ance in the absence of official authority. I have said, and it
lis generally believed, that this time it originated in Bessarabia,
\ whence, probably, it spread to the governments of Podolia and
(Cherson, and then to Kiev and Volhynia. It is reported to
lhave reached Mohilov, and that the central provinces of
IKarkofif and Poltava have not escaped the same infliction. In
tthis latitude the infection has not extended so far eastward.
'The government of Ekaterinoslov has only been partially
aafifected, and the Vice- Consul at Taganrog tells me that it has
mot been spoken of on the Don since 1843.

. ' It is with still greater hesitation that I may speak of the
(extent of the mortality. On the one hand, there may be
(exaggeration in private opinion ; and on the other, were
cofficial returns even made known, they must be accepted with
eequal caution ; for functionaries in Russia, by an instinctive
(policy y always attenuate the amount of public disasters, if by
rnecessity they are confessed. For this reason, no more than
coccasional hints are to be found in the provincial journals
ceven of the existence of this disease, in the shape of a farrier's
fprescription ; yet I am assured that the loss in Bessarabia by
tthe end of last year was reported to be one hundred and thirty
tthousand head of cattle, and that since it has amounted to
cone-half of the whole stock. In the government of Cherson, in
\which this town is situated, the loss at the present day is
(estimated at one-third, which is confirmed to me by many
iproprietors. In two large estates on the Dneiper, the pro-
iperty of Count Woronzow, it is said that not less than twelve
tthousand head of cattle have perished, of which four thousand
tbelonged to the lord and the remainder to the serfs. In the
iTalnya estate of General Leon Vlarisken the mortality ex-
cceeded six thousand beasts. The head-groom of the general
hhad a choice herd of fifty milch-cows, all of which have died,

5o8 History of Animal Plagues.

with the exception of one cow that lost its calf by abortion.
A gentleman in the vicinity prided himself in the possession
of a herd of two hundred and forty beasts of a coloured and
foreign breed, and all of them have been carried off. Of
similar instances in further districts I shall not venture to say
anything ; but the number of cattle swept away throughout
the country must be enormous. It is shown by the raised
rates of carriage, and great difficulties are anticipated in all
field labour. The prices of cattle have, however, not aug-
mented ; for no purchasers are yet bold enough to come
forward.

' In concluding this report, I am happy to be enabled to
inform your lordship that this most destructive disease is at
present (April, 1845) generally subsiding. Bessarabia is
declared to be nearly free of it, and this neighbourhood is so
entirely. I presume to add that, on referring to books, I find
that the disease I have been endeavouring to describe seems
to be identical with the murrain, that malignant epidemic
which, during so many ages, has at different times ravaged
various parts of Europe, with symptoms modified, possibly by
local causes.' 1

In January, 1845, the Belgian envoy at Vienna writes:
' The malady termed Peste Bovhie made its appearance first
in Russia and Bessarabia ; then it extended itself successively
in Moravia, in Upper and Lower Austria, in Bohemia, in
Poland, and in Galicia. It has been in these two latter
countries that it has committed the greatest ravages, but less,
however, than asserted in the public papers. Thus, for
example, in Bohemia, not more than one thousand two
hundred head of stock had died of it on the 20th of Decem-
ber.2 As soon as the epidemic manifested itself in any
province of the Austrian dominions, that province was imme-.
diately placed in a state of suspension and quarantine, so that
no horned cattle were allowed to be removed from it into any
other ; nor were sheep, pigs, wool, pigs' bristles, raw hides,

ly. Yearnes. The Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, October, 1845.
M. Renault says it raged so fiercely in Bohemia that nearly all the cattle were
destroyed.

Period from A.D. 1840 to A.D. 1842. 509

hoofs, or unpurified lard, allowed to be exported. In pur-
suance of this regulation, all communication with other parts of
the empire, in reference to such commodities, was interdicted in
Galicia, Bohemia, Moravia, and Upper and Lower Austria ;
but such interdiction no longer remains in force, excepting in
the cases of Galicia and Bohemia. Besides these precautions,
the Austrian Government has established a quarantine against
Russia, Bessarabia, and Moldavia. Notwithstanding the
amelioration of the disease in the Austrian states, the govern-
ments of Bavaria, Saxony, and Prussia have each established
a quarantine against the whole of the Austrian provinces in
which the epidemic had been declared to prevail.' ^

In regard to this disease Professor Simonds says : ' There
have been doubters of the infectious nature of the rinderpest ;
and whenever speculation has been allowed to take the place
of facts, although it may seemingly have had science as its
basis, great injury has resulted to those most interested in
the question. A notable instance of this kind has been
furnished us by Professor Renault, director of the Alfort
Veterinary School, and through his kindness we are enabled
to transcribe the following particulars : ' Towards the end of
1844, the rinderpest, which had prevailed among the cattle in
Galicia, passed through Moravia, and made its appearance in
Bohemia, in the circle of Koniggratz. The malady had
already made some progress in the district, when M. Verner,
Chief of the Veterinary Department of Bohemia, was sent
from Prague by the Government to inquire into the precise
nature of the affection. This gentleman, who had had many
opportunities of seeing the rinderpest, had no difficulty in
recognising this disease in the malady in question, and,
with a view to arrest its further progress, he recommended
to the superior authorities the adoption of those measures
which experience had shown to be best calculated not only
for this, but also to cause its quick extermination ; namely,
to slaughter the sick animals, isolate those which had been
exposed to the contagion, and establish a cordon around the

^The Veterinarian, vol. xviii. p. 199. During the years 1844-5, 1,000,000
horned beasts are calculated to have perished through this malady.

5IO History of Animal Plagues.

infected places. These measures were put in force at once,
and soon had the effect of arresting the further progress of
the malady, when some young physicians (" disciples of the
pythogenic school, I fear,' observes Dr. Budd in his essay on
this disease), who had had an opportunity of making, for their
instruction, post-mortem examinations of the cattle, thought
that they recognised in the affection an analogy to that of the
typhus abdominalis of man. They therefore communicated
their opinion to some members of the faculty of medicine at
Prague, "who, after making several autopsies, came to the same
conclusion. A report was accordingly sent to the Govern-
ment, setting forth that the malady was not contagious, that
it could rise spontaneously amongst the horned cattle of the
country by other influences than those of contagion, and that
the means which the Government had adopted were not only
useless but vexatious. As the faculty had great authority in
all sanitary matters, the Government, although it did not
entirely remove the restrictive measures, still did not enforce
them with its usual rigour ; the result of which was that in a
few weeks the malady had extended into several other circles
of the kingdom, committing such dreadful ravages that the
Austrian Government took alarm, and forthwith sent M. Eckel,
Director of the Imperial Veterinary Institute, into Bohemia.
He at once found that it was the rinderpest, and recom-
mended the rigorous enforcement of the former measures, the
result of which was that in six weeks or two months after-
wards the malady had entirely disappeared in the kingdom
of Bohemia.' ^

Another account was given by M. Renault at a meeting ot
the Central Society of Agriculture of France but the history
of this Bohemian outbreak is concisely summed up in the
following terms: In the autumn of 1844, the Cattle Plague
threatened many of the countries adjoining Russia. From
official reports we find that it spread to Bohemia in September
of that year, first penetrating to Koniggratz and the circle of

V- ^- Simonds. Report on Cattle Plague, p. 55. The Veterinarian, vol. xxxix.
p. 687.

- The Farmers' Magazine, 1857.

i

Period from A.D. 1840 to A.D. 1842. 511

Bidschow, where an extensive trade in cattle is carried on.
Veterinary surgeons in Bohemia recognised the disease, and
their observations led them to regard it as the fever of the
Steppes. Medical authorities at Prague argued that the
pestilence had arisen spontaneously in Bohemia from a com-
bination of causes, analogous to those which had given rise to
typhoid diseases and similar epidemics in man : this view
having been accepted by Government — it being supported by
Nadherny and others — as the right one, was the cause of much
laxity in the adoption of sanitary measures. Meanwhile the
plague extended rapidly throughout the whole of Bohemia,
the sixteen districts of this kingdom having been completely
invaded. The whole of the countries of Western Europe were
now alarmed at its fearful advances. Dr. Eckel, Director of
the Vienna Veterinary School, repaired to Bohemia to make
investigations into the real nature of the then existing malady.
He found that it was without doubt the rindei-pest, which
could never have arisen from unfavourable weather or any
combination of prejudicial influences of local origin, such as
deteriorated food, development of miasmata, etc., but that it
absolutely depended on the extension of disease from the
.Steppes, which of itself would account for the enormous mor-
tality among the cattle. Galicia at this time suffered in con-
sequence of the importation or transit through it of oxen from
Podolia and the adjoining Prussian provinces. From all
appearances, it may be conclusively admitted that the malady
originated in Bessarabia. During the first half of September
it spread from Galicia into Moravia. One after another, it
attacked twenty-four districts, throughout which one thousand
and sixty-five animals caught the distemper, and out of the
whole only one hundred and sixty-three recoveries were
reported ; of those that perished, one hundred and twenty-
nine were slaughtered. Instances of the disease were observed
only in a few districts of Hungary, but the symptoms pre-
sented by the cattle were without doubt those of Steppe
murrain. In the south of Austria some cases appeared as
early as the first half of October, 1844. From this time to
the 15th of December of the same year, the entire deaths were

History of Animal Plagues.

confined to three districts ; this, in all probability, depended
on the fact that as soon as the disease was recognised as the
veritable Cattle Plague by delegates from the Vienna college,
appropriate measures to stop its progress were speedily sug-
gested and carried into execution. According to Eckel's in-
vestigations, during his stay in Moravia, five thousand two
hundred and twenty-four head of cattle from Podolia were
bought in the market of Olmiitz by thirty-two merchants, and
they constituted one hundred and nineteen lots which were
driven into Bohemia ; of these, five thousand and eight
travelled on the high-road to Prague, and the others were
driven in various directions. The outbreak of the disease in
Bohemia occurred in different directions, in which it was
afterwards ascertained the cattle had been sent. In con-
formity with the opinions of Eckel, orders were issued in
Prague, on the 6th December, that certain sanitary measures
should be stringently carried into execution. From this time
the plague speedily diminished in virulence and extent, so
that towards the end of January, 1845, it was considered as
having completely disappeared from the Austrian Empire.
On the 19th of January, 1845, a statistical report was drawn
up, indicating the losses sustained in Bohemia by the ravages
of the Cattle Plague, and the result was that on the whole
two thousand one hundred and ninety-seven animals had
been infected, of which one hundred and fifteen had recovered,
one thousand one hundred and twenty-two died, nine hundred
and forty-five had been destroyed, and six were still sick.^

Grave apprehensions were excited as to the extension of
this malady into other countries, and alarming rumours were
circulated. In Britain, where epizootic diseases had not been
studied, these rumours took the strangest forms, and all kinds

1 /. Gamgee. The Cattle Plague, p. 315. For details of the malady at this
time see Spinola. Mittheilungen liber die Rinderpest gesammelt auf einer im
Auftrage der Konig. Preuss. Staatsregierung in Friihjahr, 1845, nach Polen und
Russland unternommenen Reise. Berlin, 1846. Seer. Uber die Rinderpest
der Jahre 1844 und 184S, in Bohem. Zeitschrift fiir Thierheilkunde von Dieterichs,
Weber und Vix, vol. xiv. 1847. Haupt. Uber einige Seuchenkrankheiten der
liausthiere in Sibirien. Berlin, 1845. Lorinser. Untersuchung uber die Rinder-
pest, 1846.

Period from A.D. 1840 to A.D. 1842. 513

of maladies were mixed up and confounded into one, which
was designated as the ' new epidemic/ ' new disease,' ' murrain,'
etc., and this, it was confidently asserted, had appeared in the
London markets, and in various parts of England and Scot-
land.i

France also took the alarm, and the Moniteiir and Presse
published articles urging the necessity of preventing its en-
trance into that country. Government was stated to have
sent M. Yvart, Inspector-General of the Veterinary Schools,
to study its progress and the administrative measures adopted
for the purpose of checking it.^

iThe Veterinarian, vol. xviii. p. 270. The Quarterly Journal of Agriculture,
July, 1845.

^ The Times, January 21, 1845.

33

APPENDIX.

SHEEP-POX IN ENGLAND IN EARLY TIMES.

In the previous volume (p. 79), a description is given of
what there is every reason to beheve was a most serious out-
break of Sheep-pox in this country in a.d. 1275-6-7, which
continued as a plague for twenty-eight years, and extended to
Wales in 1279, the origin being, according to Thomas of
Walsingham, a Spanish ewe imported by a rich Frenchman
into Northumberland. An endeavour is there made to trace
the early history of the disease, and it is shown that it was in
all likelihood known in England in Saxon times — probably two
centuries before 1275 ; and in the fourteenth century it was
alluded to by Chaucer, in his ' Canterbury Tales ' (Pardoner's
story). Since that volume was published, Mascal's curious old
work on ' Oxen, Horses, Sheepes, Hogges, Dogges,' published
in 1 596 — two centuries after Chaucer — came into my hands,
and in this reference is undoubtedly made to the disease. He
says : ' Sheep will have a scab which shepheardes call the pocks,
and it will appear on the skin like red pimples or purples, and
they will be broad-like as hroSid SiS {arthings, and i/tere diet/i
many sheepe thereof for lacke of looking to betimes. There-
fore to handle often all your sheepe, and looke all over their
bodies, and see if ye find any sheep taken therwith, ye shal
by and by take him from his felows, and put him into some
fresh pasture. And then see and looke daily to the rest of
the flock, and draw them as ye shal see them infected thereof,
and put them in fresh pastures if they have it ; in somer when
there is no frosts, then it shall be good to wash them in water.
Some take the juyce of nightshade, mixt with grease, and

Appendix.

515

therewith anoint ; or garlicke beaten together with tarre, and
so anoint ; or the juyce of pellitory of Spaine, or of artichoke
mixt with strong vineger, and therewith wash it. Other
remedies shepheardes have the which I know not, but these, I
think, shall be sufficient' (p. 231).

In the previous volume (p. 83) reference was made to the
probable existence of the disease in France in 1460 ; and for
1567 (p. 134) I have given a quotation from the French phy-
sician, Joubert's work, on 'The Plague' {De Peste Libelhis),
which distinctly specifies Sheep-pox as well-known to the
people of Montpellier.

For 1710 or 171 1 (p. 188), I have made an extract from Dr.
Fuller's book on ' Eruptive Fevers,' in which he describes the
existence of the disease on the South Downs, and its extreme
contagiousness and mortality. After this date, I can find no
further mention of the prevalence of Sheep-pox in Britain,
and when it disappeared it is impossible to say. Nothing
more is known of it on this island until it was imported by
Merino sheep in 1847.

INFLUENZA OF THE HORSE.

t

A.D. 1746. — According to Ozanam {Histoire A^cdicale
Generale et Particuliire des Maladies Epidemiqices, etc. Paris :
1817), Catarrhal Fever or Influenza appeared in an epizootic
form amongst horses over the whole of Germany, Bohemia,
and Moravia.

A.D. 1776. — Huzard, sen. {Journal de Medecine, torn, liv.,
p. 333), mentions an epizooty of Influenza in horses, following
an outbreak of the same disease in the human species, in the
spring of this year.

33—2

CHRONOLOGICAL SYNOPSIS OF GENERAL

DISEASES,

ARRANGED ACCORDING TO SPECIES,

DISEASES,
^GED ACCORDING TO SI

FROM B.C. 2048, TO A.D. 1 844.

PANZOOTIC DISEASES, IN WHICH SEVERAL SPECIES WERE
COINCIDENTALLY AFFECTED,

B.C. VOL. PAGE

2048. (A.M. 2820.) In Ireland. People, Dogs, and Wolves . i. 5

1260. In Troy. All Creatures . . . . . i. 6

1200. In Aegina. Ibid. . . . , . . i. 7

1 183. In Troy. Ibid. . ..... i. 8

753. At Rome. Mankind and Animals . . . . i. 10

545-6. At Rome. Mankind and Cattle . . . . i. 12

488. At Rome. Mankind and Animals . . . . i. 12

472. Universal. Mankind and Cattle . . . . i. 12

463. At Rome. Mankind and Quadrupeds . . . i. 13

453. At Rome. Mankind, Birds, and Flocks (Anihrax) . i. 13

443. At Rome. Ibid. . . . . . . i. 13

431. At Rome. Ibid. . . . . . . i. 13

430. At Athens. Mankind and Animals . . . i. 14

399. At Rome. Ibid. . . . . . . i. 15

278. At Rome. M&xikmA 2XiA Cz.it\e {Abortus Ej>ide7niciis) . . i. 16

218. In Spain. Dogs and Birds . . . . i. 16

212. In Syracuse. Animals and Mankind . . . i. 16

175-6. At Rome. Cattle and Mankind . . . . i. 17

126. In Africa. Mankind and Animals . . . i.

43. In Italy. Oxen, Horses, Dogs, and Deer (Anihrax) . i. 18

A.D.

69. In Rome. Domestic Animals and Mankmd . . 1. 23

92. In Palestine. Mankind and Cattle . . . i. 26

190. In Italy. Ibid. . . . . . . i. 27

126. In Italy. Mankind and Animals . . . . i. 27

381. In Constantinople. Mankind and Cattle . . . i. 29

446. In Constantinople. Ibid. . . . . t i- 3^

502. In Scotland. Mankind and Animals . . . i. 38

547. In Great Britain and Ireland. Ibid. . . . i. 38

Chronological Synopsis of Gene^^al Diseases. 5 1 7

A. D.

561.

In Ireland. Mankind and Beasts of Burden

i. 38

565.

In Italy, Mankind and Animals ....

i- 39

569-70.

In Italy and France. Mankind and Cattle

i- 39

580-r.

In France. Ibid. ......

i. 40

5S9.

In Rome. Mankind and Animals ....

i. 40

591-

In Europe. Ibid. {Anthrax ?) ,

i. 41

605-6.

In Italy Ibid. ......

i. 41

684.

Universal. Ibid. ......

i. 41

694.

In England. Mankind and Cattle . . , .

i. 42

696.

In Ireland. Ibid. ......

i. 42

777.

In Ireland. Ibid. ......

i. 44

784.

In Germany. Mankind and Animals

i. 44

Soo-i.

Universal. Ibid. ......

i. 44

804.

In Bohemia. Ibid. . . . . .

i. 45

820.

In France. Ibid. ......

i. 47

823.

In Europe. Ibid. ......

i. 48

829.

Thrace, Greece, and Bulgaria. Mankind and Sheep •

i. 48

842.

Universal. Mankind and Cattle ....

i. 48

860.

Europe. Animals . .

i. 48

866.

Europe. Animals and Mankind ....

i. 48

868.

Europe. Mankind and Animals ....

i. 48

869.

England. Mankind and Cattle ....

i. 48

873-4-

France. Mankind and Animals ....

i. 49

S78.

Germany. Cattle and Mankind {Anthrax ?)

i. 49

S83.

Oxford. Mankind and Cattle ....

i. 49

886.

Universal." Animals . ; . . .

i. 49

887.

France. Oxen and Sheep .....

i. 5°

894.

Italy. Animals {Anthrax) .....

i. 50

895-7.

Great Britain and Ireland. Domesticated Animals

i. 50

869.

Europe. Domestic Animals {Anthrax)

i. 50

897.

England. Mankind and Cattle ....

i. 50

903.

Ireland. Cattle and Birds .....

i. • 51

916.

Ireland. Cattle, Birds, and Salmon .

i. SI

941.

Northern Europe. Cattle and Mankind

i. 52

942.

Germany, France, Burgundy, Aquitaine, and Italy. Cattle

and Mankind {Anthrax) .....

i.

07 1?.
J'

England. Mankind and Animals ....

i. S4

087.

England and Ireland. Mankind and Cattle . • .

i. "i^

In France and Germany. Ergotism in Man, Anthrax in

Cattle .......

i. 58

QQ2.

In Ireland. Mankind, Cattle, and Bees

i. 58

994.

In Europe. Mankind, Pigs, and Sheep

i. 58

99I5-

In England. Mankind and Cattle ....

i. 58

1022.

Universal. Animals and Mankind ....

59

1028.

In Bohemia, Mankind and Animals , .

59

1035-

In Bavaria. Animals and Bees ....

i. 60

1040.

In Ireland. Cattle and Swine ....

i. 60

1041.

In England, Germany, and France. Mankind and Cattle .

i. 60

1044.

In Germany and Ireland. Ibid. ....

i. 6r

1046.

In England. Mankind, Cattle, Birds, and Fishes ,

i. 61

5i8 History of Animal Plagues.

1047.
1048.
1054.
1059.
1078.
1084.
1085.
1087.
1088.
1089-91.

1091.
1092-4.
1098.
1 103.

nil.

III2.

HIS.
1 1 24.
1125.
1127.
1 129.
1131.
"33-
1142-3-
1 149.
1151.
1166.
1171.
1187.
1200.
1201.
1207.
1213.
1217.
1221.
1224.

1235-
1238.
1240.
1249.
1252.
1254.
1264.
1302.
1308.
1314-16.
1324-
1325-
1336.
1338-

In England. Mankind and Cattle .
In England. Ibid.
In Germany. Mankind and Animals
In Bavaria. Ibid. .
In Ireland. Mankind and Cattle .
In Ireland. Ibid. .
In France, England, and Ireland. Mankind and Animals
In England and Ireland. Mankind and Cattle
In Ireland. ■ Oxen, Sheep, and Pigs
In Europe. Mankind and Animals {Ergotism)
At Constantinople. Mankind and Animals
In Europe. Mankind and Cattle .
France, Germany, and Syria. Mankind and Animals
England. Mankind and Cattle
England and Ireland. Mankind and Animals
England. Mankind and Cattle
England and Ireland. Mankind and Animals
Europe. Ibid. ....
Europe. Ibid. ....
France. Ibid. ....
Europe (Ireland also). Ibid.
England. Cattle, Pigs, and Fowls .

Ireland. Cattle and Swine

England. Man and Beast .

Belgium and Germany. Cattle and Sheep .

Europe. Mankind and Cattle

Saxony. Children and Beasts of Burden .

Germany. Cattle, Sheep, and People

England. Mankind and Cattle

Portugal. Ibid. . . • •

England. Animals

Ireland. Mankind and Cattle

France and Spain. Mankind and Animals

Spain. Mankind and Cattle

Poland. Ibid. . . . •

Ireland. Ibid. {Anthrax) .

Europe. All Animals . ■ • '

Europe. Ibid. . . • •

England. Man and Beast .

Friesland. Mankind and Cattle

England. Mankind and Animals {Anthrax)

England. Sheep and Deer

Germany and England. Mankind and Animals

Ireland. All Animals

Ireland. Mankind and Cattle

England. Ibid. . . ■ •

Ireland. All Animals

England. Ibid. . . • •

Ireland. Ibid. . . • •

Germany and Ireland. Mankind and Animals

Chronological Synopsis of General Diseases, 519

A.D.

1347-9-
1350.
1356-
1363-
1366.

1369-
1370.
1375-
1383.
1385-7.

1389.
1414.
1423.
1425.
1430.

1433-
1441.

1443-
1464.
1480.
1481.
1491.
1492.

I 1495-
1495.
1499.
1501.
1504.
1513-14-
1517.
1529.
1530.
1571-

1572.

1578.
1580-1.

1591.

1598.

1599.

1603.

1609.

1610.

1612.

1613.

1614.

1616.

1630,

1635
1648

Universal. Mankind and Animals
Germany, Barbary, and Morocco.

Ibid.

Cattle and Mankind .
Mankind and Animals .
Birds and Mankind
Mankind and Cattle
Ibid. .

All Wild Animals
Mankind and Horses .
Italy, and Galicia.

Manl

ind, Cattle, and

and Cats

Germany.
England.
England.
England.
England.
Germany.
England.
Spain, Portugal,

Fowls .
England. Mankind and Deer
Germany. Mankind, Horses, Cattle, Dogs,
Ireland. Mankind and Cattle
Ireland. Ibid.

Germany. Mankind and Horses .
Germany and Spain. Ibid.
Germany. All the Domestic Animals
Ireland. Bees and Sheep .
Ireland. Mankind and Animals .
Continent and England. Mankind and Cattle
Germany and Switzerland. Mankind and Animals
Ireland and Poland. Mankind and Cattle
Ireland. Ibid. . . • '

Spain. Wild Animals
Ireland. Cattle and other Animals
Germany. Mankind and Cattle
Silesia. Cattle and other Animals
Saxony. Mankind, Cattle, and Pigs
Continent and England. Mankind, Cattle,
Europe. Mankind and Cattle
Europe. Mankind and Animals
Milan. Mankind and Cattle
Memmingen. Ibid.
Ireland. Ibid.
Paris. Cats and Poultry .

Europe, including England. Mankind and Animals
Sicily. Mankind and Herbivorous Animals
Germany. Mankind and Cattle {Ergotism)
France and Upper Italy. Mankind, Cattle, and Goats
England. Mankind and Animals .
Memmingen. Mankind and Cattle
Alsace and Spain. Mankind, Animals, and Birds
Germany. Mankind, Cattle, and Pigs
Constantinople. Mankind and Cats
Bohemia. Mankind and Poultry .
Europe. Mankind and Cattle
Upper Italy. Mankind, Cattle, and Cats .
Nimeguen. Mankind, Poultry, and Birds .
Germany. Mankind and Horses .

and Sheep

520 History of Animal Plagues.

A.D.

1656. Italy. Mankind, Cattle, and Sheep
1669. Germany. Mankind and Cattle .
1679. Vienna. Mankind, Cats, and Birds

1686. Europe (including England and Ireland). Mankind and
Horses {Influenza) ....

1689. Europe. Mankind and Sheep

1690. Italy, Germany, and Poland. Mankind, Cattle, Sheep,

Dogs

1693. Europe, including England and Ireland {Influenza)

1694. Europe. Mankind and Domesticated Animals {Ergotism)

1695. Hesse. Mankind and Cattle

1697. Germany. Mankind, Dogs, and Poultry ,

1698. France. Mankind and Horses {Influenza)

1699. America, England and France (Crt/a;7-/i) .
1 701. Germany. Mankind, Cattle, and Geese .

1705. Germany, Saxony, Poland, and Switzerland. Horses,
Cattle, and Chamois ....

1707. Franconia, England. Mankind and Horses

1708. Europe. Mankind, Horses, Cattle, Dogs, Wild Animals

1709. Euroi^e. Mankind and Animals .

1 7 10. Europe. Mankind, Cattle, and Dogs

171 1. Europe. Horses, Cattle, Birds, and Fishes

1712. Europe. Mankind, Cattle, Horses, Pigs, etc.

1713. Europe. Mankind, and Domestic and Wild Animals

1 7 14. Europe. Cattle, Sheep, Goats, Horses, Hogs, and Poultry

1715. Europe. Mankind and Animals .

1717. Europe, including England. Mankind, Cattle, Horses

Poultry, Bees, and Fish ....

1718. Germany. Mankind, Horses, Sheep, and Poultry .

1719. Europe. Sheep, Dogs, Geese, and Wild Creatures

1720. Europe and Peru. Mankind, Horses, Sheep, Asses, and

Llamas . . • .

1721. Europe. Mankind, Horses, and Pigs {Ergotism), Dogs

and Cattle .....

1722. Europe. Mankind, Cattte, Sheep, Dogs, Fish
1723-4. Europe. Mankind, Sheep, Cattle, Mice

1725. Europe and America. Mankind, Dogs, and Horses

1726. Europe. Cattle, Deer, Sheep, Fowls, and Fish
1727-S. England and Ireland. Mankind and Horses

1729. Europe. Mankind, Cattle, Horses, Wild Boars

1730. Spain. Mankind and Animals (.5/rt<r/5 Fb;«2V)

1 731-2. Europe, including England and America. Mankind
Horses {Influenza), Cattle {Glossanthrax)
1734. Germany, England, and Scotland. Mankind, Horses,

Dogs, Fowls .....
1 735- North America. Mankind and Animals .
^ 736-7. England. Mankind and Horses {Influenza)
Europe. Mammals and Poultry {Ergo(ism)
1738, Siberia. Mankind, Horses, and Cattle {Anthrax) .

Chronological Synopsis of General Diseases. 521

A.D.
1740.

England and Ireland. Mankind, Horses, Sheep, Deer,

VOL.

PAGE

Rabbits .......

i.

263

1741.

England and Ireland: Mankind and Animals

i.

265

1742.

England and Ireland. Mankind and Horses (Influenza) .

i.

266

1743-

Europe. Mankind, Horses, Sheep, and Cattle

i.

267

1750-

Europe. Mankind and Animals ....

i.

383

1752.

France and Switzerland. Ibid. {Ergotism and Anthrax) .

i.

384

1756.

Germany. Ibid. {Anthrax and Cattle Plague)

i.

391

1757-

France, Russia, and Finland {Anthrax)

i.

393

1758.

Europe. Mankind and Animals .....

i.

398

1759-

Peru. Mankind and Dogs ....

i.

401

1760.

England and Ireland. Mankind and Horses {Influenza) .

i.

403

1762.

Europe. Mankind and Horses (Influenza)

i.

412

1763.

Europe and America. Manlund and Animals

i. 417-22

1764.

Spain, Suabia, Austria, Scotland, and Ireland. Ibid.

1.

422

1766.

Europe and America. Mankind, Horses, and Cattle

1.

425

1767.

Europe and America. Mankind, Horses, Cattle, Dogs,

Geese .......

i.

425

1770.

Germany,'Moldavia, India, Siberia, St. Domingo. Mankind

and Animals ......

i.

433

1771.

Germany. Mankind and Poultry {Ergotism)

i.

444

1774-

Guadaloupe and Brittany. Mankind, Horses, and Cattle

(Anthrax) ......

i.

465

>77S-

Europe. Mankind, Horses and Dogs {Influenza), Sheep,

Cattle, Fish ......

i.

481

1778.

Europe. Mankind and Animals ....

i.

490

1780.

Europe. Mankind, Horses, Cattle, Fowls, and Bees

i.

504

1781.

Asia, Europe. Mankind, Horses (Influenza), Cattle

1.

505

1782.

America, Europe. Mankind, Horses (Influenza), Cattle,

Dogs, Cats ......

i.

506

1783.

Iceland, England, France, Italy, "West Indies. Mankind,

Horses, Cattle, Sheep, Dogs

i.

509

1788.

Europe. Mankind, Horses, Cattle, and Pigs

i.

527

1789.

America, Egypt, Germany, Italy. Mankind and Animals .

i.

528

1793-

Europe. • Mankind, Cattle, Horses

i.

533

1797.

America, Europe. Mankind, Cats, Dogs, Fowls, Rats

i.

540

1800.

America, Spain, Italy. Mankind and Animals

ii.

I

1803.

England and France. Mankind, Horses, Dogs, Sheep,

Cattle, Cats ......

ii.

6

1810.

India. Mankind and Animals ....

ii.

29

I812.

France. Mankind, Horses, Hares, etc. (Intermittent Fever

and Anthrax) ......

ii.

31

1814.

Siberia. Mankind and Reindeer ....

ii.

37

1815.

France. Mankind, Cattle, Horses, Dogs, and Cats

ii.

56

1817.

India. Mankind and Animals (C/z«7/«-a)

ii.

65

1822.

New Orleans. Mankind and Dogs ( Yellow Fever). Ger-

many and France. Mankind and Animals (/4«</jr(z;r) .

ii.

87

1823.

Ireland and Mauritius. Mankind and Horses

ii.

88

1824.

India. Mankind and Dogs ....

100

1825.

South America. Mankind and Animals ( Yellow Fever)

ii.

lOI

522 History of Animal Plasties.

A.D. VOL. )'AGB

1826. Europe. Mankind and Animals {Influenza, Anthrax) . ii. 120

1828, Gibraltar. Mankind and Animals . . . . ii. 139

1830. Europe. Mankind and Animals . . . . ii. 150

1831. Europe. Mankind, Horses {Influenza) and other Animals

{Cholera). India, Russia {Ergotism), Ceylon . . 168-89

1832. Europe. Mankind and Animals {Cholera) . . ii. 189

1833. Europe. Mankind and Horses {Influenza) . . . 203-12

1836. Europe. Mankind and Horses {Influenza) . . . ii. 268

1837. England, France, Germany, Switzerland. Mankind, Horses,

and Cattle {Influenza) . . . . . ii. 294

1838. South America. Domesticated and Wild Animals . ii. 307
1839-44. Europe. Aniuials {Foot-and-Motith Disease) . . ii. 322

EPIZOOTIC DISEASES OF HORSES,

216. 'Etmna. {Loss pf Hoofs) . . . . , i. 16

134. Palestine . . . . . . . i. 18

A.D.

581. France . . . . . . . i. 40

791. Hungary . . . . . • . i- 44

888. Upper Italy . . . . . . i. 50

896. Italy i. 50

897. England . . . • • • . i. 50
899. Ireland . ... • • • . i. 51

903. Ireland . . . . . . . i. 51

908. Ireland . . . • . . . i. 51

916. Ireland . . . . . . . i. 51

1098, Syria (Asses also) . . . . • . i. 65

1252. England {Glossa^ithrax) , . . • . i. 76

1264. England . . . . . • • i- 79

1291. Iceland . . . . • • . i. 89

1299. Spain . i. 89

1313. Rome and Ireland . . . . . . i. 91

1320. England {Farcy) . . . . • • i- 94

1328, Yemen, Arabia . . . . . • i- 95

1360. England . . . . . . . i. 115

1383. England . . . . • • . i. I16

1414. Germany . . . . • • . 1. 117

1430. Germany . . . . • • . i. 117

1443. Spain . . . • • • , i. iiS

1518. Spain i. 131

1610. Spain . . . • • • . i. 140

1615. Switzerland. . ' . • • • . i. 141

1640. Spain {Glanders) ^43

1648. Germany {Influenza) . . . • ■ !• I43

1686, Germany {Farcy) . . • • • • i- I55

1688. Europe, including England and Ireland {Influenza) . i. I5S

1693. Europe, including England and Ireland {Influenza) . i. 166

1694. Europe {Ergotism) ^-

Chronologieal Synopsis of General Diseases. 523

A.D.
1698.

1699.
I7OI.
1704.

1705-
1707.
1708.
I7II-I2.
I7I2.
1713-

1 7 14.

1715-

1717.

1718.

1720.

1721.

1725.
1727-8.

1729.
1 73 1-2.

1734-
1740.
1 741.
1742,

I74S-
1746.

1750.
1751.

1755-
1757-
1758.
1760.
1762.

1763-
1764.
1766.
1767.
1768.
1769.
1770.
1774-

1775-
1776.

France {Bilious Fever)
America, England, and France {Catarrh) .
Germany and Lombardy
Germany, Alsace, and Flanders
Rhine Provinces, Saxony, and Poland
England {Influenza) . . •

Europe, including England and Ireland {Influenza
Europe {Influenza) . . • •

France, Germany, and Hungary {Anthrax)
Italy . . . • •

Alsace, Germany . . . •

Italy and Germany ....
Finland and Ingria . . . •

Silesia {Glossanthrax)

Poland, Prussia, and Courland {Glossanthrax)
Silesia {Ergotism) . . . ■•

Ratisbon {Grease) . . . •

England and Ireland {Influenza) .
Europe {Influenza) . . . •

Europe, including England {Influenza, Strangles and Gloss

anthrax) . . . • •

England and Scotland {Influenza) .
England {Influenza)
England and Ireland
England and Ireland {Influenza) ,
Ireland . . . . •

Germany, Bohemia, Moravia, and Ireland {Influenza)

(See in addition to authorities quoted, Ozanam, ' His
toire Medicale Generale, etc., des Maladies Epidemiques,
qui ont regne en Europe,' Paris, 1817.)
England, Ireland, and Denmark {Influenza)

Ireland {Catarrh) , . • •

Austria {Catarrh) ...»

France, Finland, and Russia {Anthrax)

England and Scotland {Influmza) .

England and Ireland {Infltienza) .

France ( Gangrenous sore-throat)

Denmark and France {Catarrh, Anthrax) .

Provence ' .

America .....
England, France, Holland, America {Catarrh)
America .....
France {Influenza) ....
Germany, France, Siberia {Influenza, Anthrax)
Guadaloupe {Anthrax)

Europe {Influenza and Anthrax), France {Glanders)

France {Glanders) ....

Huzard, sen., mentions an epizooty of Influenza foL
lowing an outbreak of epidemic Influenza in France in
the spring of this year Qournal de Medecine, vol. liv.
P- 333)-

VOL. PAGE
168

171

177

177

178

178

179

182

190

207

207

227

229

230

232

234
238

239
240

247

257
264
265
266
269
•^,82

i, 384

i. 387

i. 389

i- 393

i. 401

i. 404

i- 415

i. 417

i. 423

i. 425

i. 425

i. 429

i. 429

i- 433-40

i. 465

i. 482

i. 487

524

History of Animal Plagues.

A.D.

1777-
1778.
1780.
1781.
1782.

1783.
1784.
1786.
1788.
1789.

1793-
1794.

1795-
1795.

1797-
1798.
1800.
1802.
1803.
1804.
1805.
1S07.
1808.
1809.
i8u.
1812.

1813.
1814.
1815.
1817.
iSi8.
1819.
1820-22.
1823.
1825.
1826.
1827.
1828.
1830.

1831.
1832.

1833-
1834.

1835-
1836.

1837.

Italy {Anthrax) ....
Germany (Anthrax)
France {Influenza and Ophthalmia)
England {Inflicenza)

Germany, Denmark, England {Influenza) .
West Indies, Italy {Anthrax), France {Glanders)
Siberia {Anthrax), France {Abortion)
France, Germany, Italy, Sweden {Glossanthrax)
Germany {Anthrax)

America .....
France, Bavaria (^«//iraAr).
France {Scabies) ....
Bavaria {Glajiders) ....
Rhine Provinces {Glanders)
Bavaria {Influenza) . * .

Prussia, England {Influenza), Piedmont {Glanders)
Spain {Yellow Fever), England {Glanders) .
Ireland {Influenza) ....
England {Influenza)
Holland, Germany, France {Influenza)
Europe {Influenza) ....
Prussia {Influenza), France {Glanders)
North America ....
Switzerland and Brunswick {Influenza)
Piedmont {Influenza)

France, Germany {Anthrax), Europe {Influenza)

{Glanders) ....
France .....
Switzerland, France {Influenza)
England {Influenza ?) . . .

Ireland, France, Germany .

Germany and Italy {Anthrax), England (^Influenza
England {Influenza) ....
Europe {Influenza) ....
England {Influenza)
Russia {Afithrax), Europe {Influenza)
Russia and Galicia

England ( Glanders), France ( Ophthalmia) .
England and Austria {Influeitza)
England, France, Germany, Berlin {Variola)

America .....
Warsaw {Cholera), Prussia {Influenza)
Europe {Influenza), England and Scotland

Holland {Glanders)
Europe {Influenza), India .
England {Influenza).

Naples .....
England, Germany {Influenza), Mecklenburg {Glanders) .
England, France, Germany, Switzerland {Infltunzd), South
Africa {Horse -sickness) . , . . .

Russia

VOL

PAGE

i.

487

i.

490

i.

504

i.

505

i.

507

i.

521

i.

524

i.

520

i.

528

I.

525

i.

535

i.

537

i.

538

i.

53s

i.

540

i.

546

ii.

I

ii.

4

ii.

7

ii.

14

ii.

15

ii.

22

ii.

23

ii.

26

ii.

31

ii.

31-2

ii.

33

ii.

36

ii.

55

ii. 63,68

ii. 69, 72

ii.

72

ii.

86

ii.

88

ii.

102

ii.

121

ii.

124

ii.

139

South

ii. 151, 166
ii. 178, 1 84

{Cholera),

ii. 196-8, 200-3
. ii. 203-21
ii. 245
ii. 257
ii. 268-S8

294-306

Chronological Synopsis of General Diseases. 525

A.D. VOL. PACK

1838. South America, Germany . . . . . ii. 307-8

1839. France {Abortion), Europe {Influenza) . . . ii. 319

1840. England, Scotland, Ireland, France [Influenza), France

[Anthrax) . . . . , . ii. 436-7

1841-3. Algeria, India [Glandejs), Germany, France [Influenza) . ii. 448-60

EPIZOOTIC DISEASES OF CATTLE.

A.M.
5001.

Ireland ......

i. 8

B.C.

175-

Italy ......

i. 17

376.

Europe (Caw-? Plague) • . . .

i. 28

A.D.
i4/'

Great Brita.in and, Ireland • • • .

i ^8

cfio— 70

^uy— /u.

Italy and France • . . • . .

580-81.

France {Cattle Plame _

1:82

1.

-L luliV.'V^ ••••••

1. 4i->

504.

V^aUlL^tiXcLLo. ••••••

1. 40

Cot
591.

I. 41

005-0.

1. 41

ooy.

i.r CiallU. • • ■ • ■ . •

1. 4i

694.

Fngland • • . • • •

i. 42

695-

ireianci .... . .

I. 42

oyo.

T vol OT^

JLlclallU. .... . .

. 1. 42

fin"?

H^Ti fri n

iljll^lclllU. • . . a • ■

!• 43

699.

T 0 n <"1 0 VI rl n frl o Ti

±rclUllLl aUU i2.11^iclLlU ....

!• 43

yc^j 0.

J-ICldliU ......

1 At

43

744-0.

XlClctilU ......

T A 1

4.i

765-

Ireland. ......

43

770.

Ireland ......

i- 43

772.

XlClMUU ......

1. 44

/74«

Trpliinrl

AlClctliU ......

1. 44

770.

ixcianu ......

i. 44

777-

Ireland

i. 44

778.

Ireland . . . . .

i. 44

797-

Ireland ......

i. 44

801.

'Frd.nce [Cattle Plagtie ?) ....

i- 45

809-10.

On the Continent and in England ( Cattle Plague) .

i- 45

820.

Hungary and Western Europe [Cattle Plague)

i. 47

842.

Universal ......

. i. 48

850.

France, Germany, and Spain {^Cattle Plague?)

i. 48

868.

England ......

. i. 48

869.

England ......

. i. 48

870.

France ......

i. 49

878.

Germany [Ant/irax ?) ....

i. 49

883.

Oxford ......

i. 49

887.

France ......

i. 50

918.

Ireland ......

i. SI
i. 52

940.

France, Italy, and Germany [Cattle Plague ?)

526

History of Animal Plagues.

A.D.
941.

942.

953-
960.
981.
986-7.
992.

995-
1016.
1040.
1041.
1044.
1046.
1047.
1048.

IP54-
1078.
1084.
1085.
1086.
1087.
1092-4.
1098.
1 103.
1 109.
1 1 10.
mi.
III3-

III5-
1124.
1125.
1 1 29.
1131.

1 1 33-4-
1149.
1151.

1154-
1171.
1 187.
1200.
1207.
1217.
1221.
1223-25.

1233-4.
1238.
1240.
1249.
1252.
1258.

Northei-n Europe

Germany, France, and Italy {Anthrax ?)
Ireland ....
Italy and Ireland

Ireland ....
England, Wales, and Ireland {Cattle Plague
France, Germany {Anthrax), Ireland
England
Ireland
Ireland

England, France, and Germany
Germany and Ireland
England
England
England
England
Ireland
Ireland

Ireland and England
England

England and Ireland
Europe

France, Saxony, and Syria
England . . y

Ireland
England

England and Ireland
Ireland

England and Ireland
Europe
Europe

Europe (Ireland also)
England
Ireland

Belgium and Germany
Europe
Ireland
Germany
England
Portugal
Ireland
Spain
Poland

Europe, including England {Cattle Plague)
Europe {Cattle Plague)
Europe

Europe {Cattle Plagne)
Friesland

England {Anthrax) .
England

Chronological Synopsis of General Diseases. 527

VOL. PACE

1264. Germany and England . . • • . i. /o

1299. Germany , • . • • • . i. 90

1302. Ireland . . . • > • . 1. 90

1308. Ireland i. 9°

1314-17. England J- 9^-2

J318-19. England and France . . • • i- 93

1321-4. Ireland . . . • • • . i- 94

1335. England . . . • • • • • i- 95

1338-9. Ireland . . . • • • • i- 97

1349. England . . . • • • . 1. 114

1356. Germany . . • • • • . 1. 114

1369. England . . . • • • . 1. I15

1370. England US

1385. Lombardy and Plac'entia . . . • . i. 116

1386. England . . • • • . . i. 116
•1407. Ireland . . • • • • . 1. _ 117

1414. Germany . . . • • • . 1. 117

1423. Ireland . . . • • • . i. 117

1425. Ireland . . • • • . . i. I17

1433. Germany and Spain . . . . . i. 118

1442. Germany . . . . . • . i. 118

1445. Ireland . . . . . . . i. 118

1450. Ireland . . . . . . . i. rig

1473. Ireland ....... i. 120

1480. Continent and England ..... i. 120

1491. Ireland and Poland ...... i. 120

1492. Ireland ....... i. 121

1496. Ireland ....... i. 222

1499. Germany ....... i. 122

1500. Ireland . . . • • . . i. 127

1501. Silesia ....... i. 127

1504. Saxony . . . . i . . i. 127

1508. Austria ....... i. 128

1513-14. Continent and England (Cai'//fi iYa^we.?) . . . i. 128

1517. Europe {Ani/irax) ...... i. 131

1524. Ireland ....... i. 131

1529. Switzerland ....... i. 132

1530. Milan ....... i. 132

1534. England . . . . . . . i. 133

1552. Italy (Anthrax) ...... i. 134

1556. Switzerland [Anthrax) . . . . . i. 134

1559. Magdeburg . . . , - . . . i. 134

1571. Memmingen ...... i. 135

1572. Ireland . . • . . . . i. 135
J580-1. Europe, including England . . . . . i. 135

1591. Sicily . . . . . . . L 138

1598. Germany ....... i. 138

1599. France and Upper Italy (Crt/^/tf /Va^/if . . . L 139
1603. London ....... i, 139

1609. Memmingen ...... L 139

528 History of Ammal Plagues.

loio. Alsace and Spam . . . , . . i. 140

1612. Germany 140

1616-18. Italy, Venetian Dominions, and Spain {Aftlhrax) , , i. i^i

1625, Southern Russia, Hungary, and Italy {CaU/e Plagrte) . i. 142

1630. Upper Italy (Ca^//i? /Ya^^/^) . . , . i. 142

1638. Friuli ....... i. 143

1640. Jura Alps ....... i. 143

1643. Saxony . . . . . . . i. 143

1656. Italy . . . . . . . i. 144

1659. Italy i. 145

1663. Europe, including England ..... i. 146

1669. Germany ....... i. 146

1674. Denmark {I?o/) ...... i. 148

1682. Europe {Glossanthrax) . . . . . i. 150

1685. Silesia ....... i. 154

1686. Silesia (^Foot-and-Mottth Disease) . . . . i. 155

1690. Italy, Germany, and Poland . . . . i. 155

1691. Italy and Switzerland (^Glossanthrax) . . . i. 165

1693. {Contagions Pleuro-pneumonia) . . . i. 165

1694. Europe {Ergotism) . . . . . . i. 166

1695. Hesse {Aphthous Fever) . . . . . i. 167

1697. Sweden {Glossanthrax) . . . . .1. 168

1701. Germany . ...... i. 176

1705. Daupliiny and Switzerland . . . . . i. 178

1707. Franconia . . . . . . . i. 178

1708. Europe ....... i. 179

1709-10. 'Europe {Cattle Flague) .... i. 179-227

1 712. France, Germany, and Hungary {Anthrax) . . i. 190

1713. Switzerland {Contagious Pleuro-pncumonia) . . i. 198
1713. France {Glossanthrax), Germany {Pot), England {Cattle

Plague) . . ... . . . i. 209

1717. England ....... i. 229

1720. Poland, Prussia, and Courland {Glossanthrax) . . i. 232

1721. Germ^Lny {Lal/on'ous Parturition), Sweden {Cattle Plagite). i. 236

1722. Venetian States ...... i- 236

1724. Germany {Cattle Plague) . . . . . i. 237

1726. 'E.'oxQipe {Carbuncular Fever and Pleuro-pneu7nonia) . i. 239

1729-30. Europe {Cattle Plague) . . . . i. 240-1

1731-2. Europe {Glossanthrax) ..... i. 247

1734. Baden {Glossanthrax) ..... i. 258

1735. Italy {Cattle Plag7ie), Scotland .... i. 260-1

1740. Hungary, Bohemia, and Bavaria (Crti'^/tf /'/a^*^) . • i. 264

1741. Ireland . . . . . . . i. 265

1742. Lorraine and Switzerland (Ca^//tf /"/fl^^^i;) . . . i. 267

1743. Suabia, Switzerland, and France {Cattle Plague afid Pleuro-

pneumonia) ...... i. 267

1744. \ta\y, Germany, and Yio\\ar\d {Cattle Plagtie) . . i. 267

1745. Europe, including England, Ireland, and Scotland {Cattle

Plague) . . . . . . . i. 269

1752. Switzerland {Anthrax) ..... i- 3S4

Chronological Synopsis of General Diseases. 529

A.D.

1754. Hanover [Glossanihrax) . . . •

1755. Europe {Fool-and- Mouth Disease) .

1756. Germany and Minorca [Anthrax and Cattle Plagiie)

1757. France, Finland, and Russia {Anthrax)

1758. Germany and Italy, Sweden and Norway {Anthrax and

Cattle Plague) . . . . •

1759. Austria ......

1760. Switzerland and Italy {Anthrax and Foot-and- Mouth

Disease)

1761. France, Austria, Franconia, Estlionia [Anthrax) .

1 762. Switzerland, Italy, France, Denmark, and Sweden {Anthrax

and Gang)-enous Sore Throat)

1763. France, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, Moravia {Anthrax

and Foot-and-Mouth Disease)

1764. Holland, Holstein, Thuringia, Saxony, etc. [Foot-and-Mouth

Disease)

1765. Tyrol {Pneumonia), Turkey, Hungary, Saxony {Cattle

Plague)

1767. Italy {Foot-and-Mouth Disease) . .

1768. Austria and Prussia {Anthrax and Cattle Plague) .

1769. France, Holland, Switzerland {Pleuro-pneumonia, Cattle

Plague, Rot) .....

1770. France, Italy, Holland, Belgium, St. Domingo, Siberia

1 77 1. Paris {Foot-and-Mouth Disease), and America {Horn Dis

temper) ......

1772. Saxony, France, St. Domingo {Anthrax and Pleuro-pneu

monia) ......

1773. Holland and France {Cattle Plague), Switzerland [Pleura

pneumonia) .....

1774. France, Holland, Spain, England (C««/e Guada

loupe {Anthrax) .....

1775. France, Austria, Finland, and Sweden [Anthrax and Cattle

Plague) . . . .

1776. France, Austria, Poland, Italy [Atithrax, Cattle Plague,

Foot-and-Mouth Disease) ...

1777. Germany {Abortion) ....

1778. Germany, Austria, France {Anthrax, Cattle Plague, Foot

and-Mouth Disease) ....

1779. France, Switzerland, Belgium, Austria, Istria {Anthrax

Pleuro-pneumonia, Cattle Plague)

1780. France, Italy {Glossanthrax) . . .

1781. England {Cattle Plague?), Flanders {Ophthalmia) .

1782. Germany [Injluenza?), France {Ophthalmia), Holland

{Cattle Plague) .....

1783. Germany, England, Italy, France, Iceland, West Indies

1784. Hungary, Italy, Germany {Cattle Plague), France {Abortion)

1785. Nassau {Glossanthrax) ....

1786. Germany, France, Italy, Transylvania, Sweden {Glossan

thrax. Croup) .....
1788. Germany, France (/4«//«'a.r)

34

530 History of Animal Plagiies,

A.D. VOL. PACE

1789. Yxzx^c^ {Anthrax), K\\%\x\:s. {Cattle Plagite) . . . i. 530

1790. Germany, France, Hungary {Pleuro-pneiimonia and An-

thrax) . . . . • • • i- 531

1792. Italy, Franconia, Tyrol {Pleuropneumonia, Cattle Plague,

Abortion) . . - • • ■ i- 53^

1793. France, Bavaria, Italy, Germany {Anthrax, Cattle Plague) i. 533.

1794. Italy {Foot-ami- Mouth Disease) . . . • i- 537

1796. Lombardy {Anthrax) . . • • . i. 538-

1797. Wurtemburg {Anthrax) . . • • .1. 540

1799. Italy {Foot-and- Mouth Disease, Cattle Plague), England,

'S,zoi\2X^A {Cattle Plague 1) . . . • };

1800. lioXy {Anthrax, Pleuro-pneumonia, Cattle Plague) . . ii. 2

1801. France, Switzerland, Saxony, Germany, Ireland , . ii. 3

1802. Ireland, Bavaria {Anthrax), Poland, Prussia, Italy {Cattle

Plague) . . . • • • • !!" ^

1803. England, France, Switzerland . . • . 11. 7

1804. Brz.ndimhnxg {Anthrax), ¥rzxLC& {Disease of Horns) . ii. 14

1805. 'Engl^n^ {Cattle-Plague ?) . • • • * Ii'
1807. 'Emo-pQ {Attthrax and Cattle Plague) . . ' jj*

1809. ^mo])^ {Foot-and-Mouth Disease, Cattle Plague) . • Ij- ^7

1810. Bays-ns. {Pleuro-pneuinonia and Aitthrax) . . . li. 29

1811. Siberia and Germany (Ca/Z/^^/y^^"?/*'). Switzerland (/^r'/rtrza) ii. 30

1812. Germany, Switzerland, Spain {Cattle Plague, Foot-and-

Mouth Disease, Anthrax) . • • . 11. 32

1813. Switzerland, Rhine Provinces, Umgaxy {Pleuro-p7teumonia,

Cattle Plague, Anthrax) . . • • • 33

1814. Europe {Cattle Plague) . . • • '

1815. Italy {Pleuro-pneumonia), Fianct {Dysentery) . . 11. S&

1816. l<(asssi\i {Anthrax), Ceylon {Cattle Plague) . . . 58-

18 1 7. Wurtemburg {Tail Disease), Germany and France {Foot-

and-Mouth Disease) . _ • • • " II" ^'^

1820-2. Siberia {Cattle Plague) . • • • '

1822. France, Germany {Anthrax, Pleuro-pneumottia) . . n. 07

1824. Italy, France, Germany, Russia {Foot-and-Mouth Disease

and Cattle Plague) . • • •

1825. Italy, Austria, Russia, Qiervaany {Cattle Plague, etc.)

1826. Russia, Switzerland, France (^«Mrfljr, . 123

1827. Italy, Austria, Germany {Foot-and-Mouth Disease), France

{Pleuro-pneumonia), Russia and Danubian Prmcipali-

ties {Cattle Plague) . ■ • • • ..

1828 Belgium {Pleuro-pneumonia), Scotland {Anthrax) . . I4

1829. Nassau {Abortion and Difficult Parturition), Bessarabia,

Moldavia, and Hungary • • • '^9

1831. France {Pleuro-pneumonia), Germany, Poland {Cattle

Plague) , . • • • ^, • \"

1833. Hesse {Fragilitas Ossium), Antwerp {Molhtes Ossiuvi),

Jamaica . • • • ' t nj \'

1834. Europe {Anthrax, Foot-and-Motith Disease, Cattle Plague),

Saxony {Cotv-pox), Russia . • • •

1836. Germany, Belgium, Austria, Italy {Anthrax, Fkuro-p,ieu-

mania, Cattle Plague), India . . • . u. 2 4 y

ii. 99
ii. loi

'I

ii. I3»

ii. 73
ii. 212-29

Chronological Synopsis of General Diseases. 531

A.D. VOL. PAGE

1837. France {hifluenza), Holland, Lithuania {Pleuro-pneumonia),
Turkey, Danubian Principalities, Austria, Naples {Cattle

Plague, Anthrax) , . . . . ii. 294-9

1839. Poland, Holland, Germany {Anthrax), Europe {Foot-and-

Mouth Disease) . . . . , . ii. 318-22

1840. Lithuania, France, Switzerland {Pleuro-pneumonia) . ii. 426
1 841-4. Great Britain and Ireland, the Continent {Pleuro-pneu-
monia), Egypt, Russia, Bessarabia ( Cattle Plague) . ii. 488

EPIZOOTIC DISEASES OF SHEEP.

829. Greece, Thrace, and Bulgaria . . . . i. 48

887. France . 1. 5°

994. Europe . . . . . ■. , i. 58

1086. England . . . . . . . i. 63

ro88. Ireland . . . . . . , i. 64

1 124. Europe , . . . . . . i. 65

1 149. Belgium . . . . . . . i. 6S

117X. Germany . . . . . . . i. 69

1201. England {7?<?/ .?) . . . . . . i. 71

1223. England . . . . ... . i. 72

1254. England . . . . . . . i. 77

1264. Germany and England . . . . . i, 78

1274-1202. England {Scaiiies? Sheep-pox?) . . . . i. 79

1314. England {Pot ?) . . . . . . i. 91

1333- England . . . . . . . i. 96

1338. Ireland . . . . - . . . i. 97

1385. England . . . . . . . i. I16

1442. Ireland . . . . . . . i. 118

1513-14. Continent and England {Cattle Plague ?) . . . i. 129

1515. France . . . . ' . . . i. 130

1567. France {Sheep-pox) . . . . . . i. 134

1591. Sicily . . . . . . . i. 138

1628. Venetian States . . . . . i. 142

1649. Tadua {Variola) . . ... . . i. 144

1656. Italy . . . . . . . i. 144

1663. Europe, including England {Pot) . . . .1. 146

1664. Venice (Variola) ...... i. 147

1674. Venetian territories ( Frtrw/rt), Denmark (/^iJ^) . . i. 148

1689. Europe ....... i. 158

1690. Italy {Pot and Variola) . . . , . i. 162

1691. Italy and Switzerland (Glossanthrax) , , . i. 162
1694. Europe {Ergotism) . . , . . . i. 166
1708. Ireland ...... i. 179

171 1. England {Variola) ...... i. 188

17 1 2. Hungary ( F<j;-/^>/rt) ...... i. 192

1 71 3. Europe (Pot and Cattle Plague) . . . . i. 192

1714. Germany, Italy, and France Fam/rt) . . i. 207
1716. Ireland (;/?i7/) , , . . . . i. 228
1718. Germany ....... i. 230

34—2

532

History of Animal Plagues.

A.D.
I7I9.

1720.

1723-4-
1726.

I73S-
1740.

1741.

1743-
1746.

1747-

1750-
1752-3-

1754-

I7SS-
1756-8.

1761.

1762.

1763-

1765-
1766.
1771.
1772.

1775-
1783.
1786.

1787.
1791.

1792.

1795-
1797.
1799.
1800.
1 801-3.
1804.
1805.
1807.
1809.
1810.
1812.
1814.
1815.
1816.
1817.
1820.
1822.
1823.
1824.
1829.

Bohemia and Venetian States ( Variola)
Saxony ( Variola)

Venetian States, France ( Variola), and Germany f^Rot)
Germany ( Variola) .
England (Rol)
England and Ireland {Jioi)
Ireland
France {Roi)
France (Variola)
England (A'ol)
Toulouse ( Variola) .
Ireland [Rot)
Hanover {Anthrax)
Switzerland {Variola)
Saxony ( Variola)
France {Rot and Variola)
France ( Variola and Glossanthrax)

France, Switzerland, Gennany {Anthrax and Foot-and-

Mouth Disease) .
Moravia ( Cattle Flague ?)
England {Rot)
Siberia {Variola)
Saxony

France ( Variola)
Iceland

Italy and Sweden {Glossanthrax)
Germany ( Variola), Ireland
Normandy, Saxony, France {Variola, Hematuria, Con

tagious Foot-rot) .
England {Rot)

France ( Variola) , ...
Saxony ( Variola)
Italy ( Variola)

Germany and France {Hydro-rachitis)
France ( Variola)
Saxony ( Variola)

France ( Variola), Switzerland, Piedmont {Foot-rot)

France {Variola)
France and Germany {Rot) .
England {Rot)
France {Rot)
Italy ( Variola)

Germany {Contagious Foot-rot)
France, Germany {Rot)
Scotland {Rot)
France and Germany {Rot) .
Germany and France ( Vaiiola)
France and Germany {Rot) .
England, France, and Germany {Rot)
Europe, Egypt {Rot)

VOL. PAGE

231
232
237
239
259
263
265
267

382
382

383
388
388

390

393
405
412

i. 417-21
424
425
445
445
483
514
526

527

i. 531

i- 532

i. 538

i. 540

i. 547

ii. 2

ii. 3> 5. 8
ii. 15

11.
ii.
ii.
ii.
ii.
ii.
ii.
ii.
ii.
ii.
ii.
ii.
ii.
ii.

20
22
26
29
31
36
55
57
63
79
87
89
99
142

Chronological Synopsis of General Diseases. 533

J, VOL. PAGE

1830^1. England ii. 146

1832. Germany {Rot) . . . • • . ii- I97

1833. Australia . . . . • • .11. 221

1834. Ireland (7?^7/) . . . . • " .. '^^^
1836. Germany ( Variola, Anthrax) England . . . ii. 286-92

1838. England {Influenza) ..... ii. 3°^

1839. Lithuania (Frtiw/ff), Scotland ('Z^;m/««^-?7/') . . ii. 318-21
1 841. Bohemia { Farw/a) ...... ii- 44^

EPIZOOTIC DISEASES OF GOATS.

1 129.

Europe . . . . ■ •

1.

07

1599-

Italy {Cattle Plague) .....

i.

139

I7I2.

Europe {Rot)

1.

197

I7I4.

Germany {Rot) . . . .

1.

207

1764.

Sweden . .

I.

422

1778.

Germany {Anthrax) .....

i.

490

I8I9.

Cashmere

ii.

74

EPIZOOTIC DISEAbr-b Ur riurb.

994-

Europe •••••••

•

0'-'

1040.

Irelcind.

j'
•'

60

lOoo.

Ireland. • • • • • • •

■'

64.

1 124.

Europe ,•§»•••

-*

66

1 1 29.

ji.urope ^ireianu inciucico.^ • • • • ■ #

67

II3I.

ii.ngia.nu. ,,•■•»■

67

1133-4-

Ireland

-

.'

68

1504.

Saxony

T 27

I5OO.

Austria ,,.»»••

128

15^9.

132

1530-

Germany .......

132

161O.

Spain .......

140

1612.

Germany .......

140

1690.

Italy .......

162

1694.

Europe {Ergotism) ......

i65

1708.

Hungary and Transylvania .....

179

I7I2.

Germany, Hungary, and France ....

190

I7I4.

Alsace .......

207

I715.

Cologne .......

227

1717.

England .......

229

1718,

Germany .......

230

I72I.

Silesia {Ergotism) ......

234

I74I.

Ireland .......

265

1754-

Germany {Foot-and- Mouth Disease)

390

1757-

France {Anthrax) ......

394

1763-

France and Germany {Swine Plague and Foot-and- Mouth

Disease) .......

i. 417-21

1765.

Switzerland and Suabia {Swine Plague) . .

i.

425

534 History of Animal Plagues.

A-D. VOL. PAGE

1770. Germany {Swine Plague) . . . , . i. 437
1777' Gei-many {Abortioti) . . . . . i. 489

1778. Gt'cmz.ny (Anthrax) ..... i. 490

1786. Germany, Sweden {Glossanthrax, Anthrax) . '. i. 526

1788. Germany {Anthrax) , . . . . i. 528

1805. Italy . . . . . . . ii. 20

181 1. Fmnce {Stuine F/agite) . . . . , ii. 31

1817. Germany . . . . . . . ii. 63

1 82 1. France, Bavaria {Swine Plague) . . . . ii. 80

1832. Germany {Ergotism) . . . . . ii. 197

1834. France ....... ii. 247

1835. Prussia . . . . . . . . ii. 247

1836. Ireland {Swine Plague) . . . . • ii- 292

1837. France, Switzerland . . . . . ii. 305

1838. England and Ireland . . . . . ii. 306

1840. Ireland, Hesse . . . - . . . ii. 436

1 84 1. Germa.ny {Variola) , . . . . . ii. 448

EPIZOOTIC DISEASES OF DOGS.

1028. Bohemia . . . . . . . i. 60

1414. Germany . . . . . . . i. 117

1500. Spain {Rabies) . • . . . . . i. 127

1586. Flanders, Hungary, Austria, and Turkey {Rabies) . . i. 137

1603. London . . . . . . . i. 139

1604. Paris {Rabies) . . . . . . i. 139

1690. Italy . . . . . . . i. 162

1697. Germany ....... i. 168

1708. Suabia {Rabies) . . . . . . i. 179

1 7 10. Transylvania . . ■ . . . . i. 182

1 714. France {Distemper) . . . . . . i. 20S

1 71 5. France and Cologne {Distemper) . . . . i. 227
1719-24. Europe (/v'rt/^/«) ..... 1.231,5,6,8

1734-5. England {Rabies) ...... i- 238

1735. South America (Z)/^/^w/if;-) . . . . . i. 260

1 74 1. Barbadoes {Rabies) ...... i- 265

1757. France {Anthrax) . . . . . . i. 394

1759. Peru . . . . . • . i. 401

1 761-4. Europe and America (Z>w/m/^r) . . . • i- 408-' 7

1763. France {Anthrax) . . . . • . 1. 417

1766. England, France, Louisiana . . . * !' '^^^

1 770-1. America {Rabies) ^- 43^

1 771. Moscow and Wallachia (Z'/j/m/tr) . . . i. 443

1775. England and France {Influenza) . . . ' I" '*cfi

1776. Antilles {Rabies) . . . • • . i. 480

1779. America {Rabies) \
1782-4. France {Distemper) . . . • • ' !'

1783. West Indies {Rabies) . • • • . 1. 52°

1785. America {Rabies) 5^'*

Chronological Synopsis of General Diseases. 535

A.D.

VOL. PAGE

1786.

Pezenas {Distemper) . . . . .

i- 527

1789.

Germany and America {Rabies) . . . .

i. 528

1797.

America [Rabies, Yellow Fever) . . . ■

i. 540

Italy, France {Distemper) . . . • •

i- 547

1800.

Spain

ii. I

1803.

Peru {Rabies) . . , • •

ii. 9

1805.

England {Distemper) ....

ii. 19

1806.

England {Rabies) .....

ii. 20

1807.

Ireland {Rabies) . . . • •

ii. 22

1809.

France ( Variola)

ii. 23

1810.

North America (Rabies), England .

ii. 29

1813.

Mauritius {Rabies) . . . • •

ii- 33

1SI5.

Norway, Austria {Rabies) ....

ii- 55

I8I8.

France {Distemper) ......

ii. 72

1820.

England {Rabies) . . . • . •

ii- 79

I82I.

Siberia {Distemper)

ii. 82

1 822.

Holland {Rabies) .....

ii. 87

IS23.

Norway, Denmark, Russia, and England {Rabies) .

ii. 89.

1824.

Sweden, Russia, Norway, England, and Ireland {Raffles)

India

ii. 99-100

1827.

Germany ( Yellow Fever), Calcutta . . . .

ii. 125, 130.

1829.

Saxony (Rabies) .....

ii. 147

1832.

Saxony (Rabies) .....

ii- 197

1833-

Barbadoes {Rabies) . . . . •

ii. 229

1834.

Saxony (Rabies, Distemper) ....

ii. 246

1835.

Luxemburg (Bilious Fever), Chili (Rabies) .

. ii. 254-60

1836.

Paris (Rabies) . . . . •

ii. 290

1837.

Germany, Austria (Rabies) ....

ii- 305

1 841.

Vienna, Germany, France (Rabies) .

. ii. 448-82

EPIZOOTIC DISEASES OF CATS.

1414. Germany

1 5 14. England

1578. Paris

1613. Constantinople

1630. Padua

1 67 1-2. Westphalia .

1679. Vienna

1712. Hungary

1782. France

1789. Cairo

1796. Holland, England

1797. America, England, Europe
1800. Spain
1803. England, Europe
1821. Germany

1823. Norway, Denmark, and Russia (Rabies) .

1824. Sweden (Rabies), Dresden (Exanthcmatous Fever)

1831. Bohemia .....

1832. Aleppo .....

I. 117

i. 130

i- 135

i. 140

i. 142

i. 148

i. 149

i- 197

i.

i.

i.

i.
ii.
ii.
ii.
ii.
ii.
ii.
ii.

50S
530
539
540
I

7-8
81
89

99
iSi
20J

53^ History of Animal Plagues.

VOL. PAGE

EPIZOOTIC DISEASES AMONG PARTICULAR DOMESTIC

ANIMALS

A.D.

26. Persia. Elephants .

1098. Syria. Camels

1544. Peru. Alpacas

1720. Peru. Llamas and Donkeys

1757. France.. Asses {Anthrax) .

1758. Lapland. 'Reindeer {CaUk Plague)
1770. Siberia. Camels (Anthrax)
1778. Germany. Asses [Anthi-ax)
1814. Siberia. Reindeer .

1823. Lapland. 'RemAeer {Rabies or Anthrax)

1824. Sweden. Reindeer {Rabies or Anthrax)

EPIZOOTIC DISEASES OF POULTRY.

England
Europe
Europe
Paris
Bohemia
Nimeguen

Europe. Geese {Ergotism)
Germany. Poultry and Pigeons
Germany. Geese .
Germany

Germany. Fowls and Geese
Alsace. Geese

Hungary. Geese and Turkeys
Germany. Geese, Fowls, and Pigeons
Bohemia. Geese .
Courland. Fowls .
Coburg. Poultry .
Silesia and Bohemia {Ergotism)
Ireland

Vienna. Poultry .
Hanover. Geese and Ducks
France. Fowls {Atithrax) .
France, Italy, Germany, Spain
Provence

Hanover, France. Geese and Turkeys
Genoa

Germany {Ergotism)
Lorraine. Geese
France. Poultry .
Hanover. Geese .
France. Poultry .
Upper Italy
America

Chronological Synopsis of General Diseases. 537

A. D. VOL. PAGE

1797. America ....... i. 545

iSoo. Spain. Poultry and Canaries . . . . ii. i

1829. France. Ducks . . . . . . ii. 147

1S30-31. Europe. Poultry . ..... ii. 162

1832. France ....... ii, 183

1834. Berlin ....... ii. 236

1835. Germany, France . . . . . . ii. 248-54

1837, Rome . . . ... . . ii. 305

1840. England . . . . . ■. . .ii. 436

EPIZOOTIC DISEASES AMONG UNTAMED CREATURES.

B. C.

43. Italy. Deer {Anthrax) . . . . . i. 18

A.D.

571. England. Birds . . . . . . i. 40

591. Europe. Stags and other Creatures . . . i. 41

661. England. Birds . . . . . . i. 41

671. England. Ibid. . . . . . . i. 41

903. Ireland. Ibid. . . . . . . i. 51

916. Ireland. Ibid. . . . . . . i. 51

942. Ireland. Ibid. . . . . . . i. 52

950. Ireland. Bees . . . . . • i- 53

992. Ireland. Ibid. . . . . . . i. 58

1035. Bavaria. Ibid. . . . . . . i. 60

1046. England. Birds . . . , . . i. 61

im. England and Ireland. All Animals . . . i. 66

1 1 15. Ireland. Birds . . . . . . i. 66

1 1 24. Europe. Bees . . . . . . i. 66

1 129. Europe. Bears and Stags . . . . . i. 67

1134. France. Birds . . . . . . i. 68

1254. England. Deer . . . . . . i. 77

1286. Austria. Birds . . . . . . i. 89

1335. Ireland. Ibid. . . . . , . i. 96

1366. England. Ibid. . . . . , . i. 115

1375. Germany. All Wild Animals . . . . i. 115

1389. England. Deer . . . . . . i. 116

1434. Ireland. Birds , . . . . . i. 118

1442. Ireland. Bees . . . . . . i. 118

1462. Ireland. Birds . . . . . . i. 119

1495. Spain. All Wild Animals . . . . . i. 122

1496. Ireland. Ibid. . . . , . . i. 122

1544. Peru. Alpacas 133

1590. Montbelliard. Wolves (Rabies) . . . . i. 138

1610. Alsace. Birds ...... i. 140

1635. Nimeguen. Ibid . . . . . . i. 142

1656. West Indies. Pelicans . . . . . i. 145

1663. Europe. Wild Ruminants {Hot) . . . . i. 146

1674. Denmark. Ibid. . . . . , . i. 148

1679. Vienna. Birds . . . . . . i. 149

1690. Italy. Bees . . . . .

538

History of Animal Plagues.

A.D.

Switzerland. Chamois . . . , ,

VOL.

\-

PACE
178

I 700.

Transylvania and Hungary. Wolves, Hares, and Foxes .

]'

179

I7II.

Germany. Birds ......

]•

182

Hungary. Deer and Wild Hogs, etc. . .

]•

190

I7I3'

Europe. Hares, Wolves, Deer, Wild Hogs, etc.

\-

196

1717.

Silesia. Bees ......

i'

228

1719.

/.uricii (Wasps and L.izaras;, Italy (Silkworms)

]•

231

1724.

Silesia. Mice ... ...

]•

1720.

Poland and Germany. Deer ....

]'

239

1729.

Europe. Wild Boars # • . , .

]•

240

1734'

England. Hares {£o/) • . , . ,

]'

258

1740.

Ireland, ueer anu KaoDits (Aot) ....

]•

263

I750-

Toulouse. Silkworms .....

]■

383

1756.

Germany. Deer, Boars, Hares ....

]•

391

I757«

France, Finland, and Russia. Deer . .

]'

394

1764.

Spain. Birds ......

]'

422

1770.

Moldavia. Ibid. ......

]'

A iS

43«>

1771.

America. Foxes {Rabies) .....

442

1776-80.

Africa. Foxes and Wolves (Intermittent Fever ?), France.

Deer .......

1.

485

1778.

Germany. Deer ......

1.

490

1780,

Saxony. Bees ......

1.

504

1796-1803, Saxony. Ibid. ......

i.

538

1797.

America. Rats . .....

i.

540

1803.

Switzerland. Foxes (Rabies) ....

ii.

8

1804.

Wurtemburg and Baden. Foxes (Rabies) .

ii.

15

1806.

Baden. Foxes (Rabies) .....

ii.

20

1807.

Bavaria and Ceylon. Deer, Boars, Badgers, Hares,

Elephants, etc. (Anthrax) ....

ii. 21-22

1809-12.

Zurich. Foxes (Rabies) .....

ii.

27

1810.

North America. Wolves and Foxes (Rabies)

ii.

29

1815.

Italy. Pigeons (Anthrax) .....

ii.

56

1818.

Germany. Large Game (Anthrax)

ii.

69

1819.

Germany. Foxes (Rabies) .....

ii.

74

1820-25.

Switzerland, Baden. Foxes (Rabies)

ii.

79

1821.

Thuringia, Jena. Foxes (Rabies . ,

ii.

82

1822.

England. Pheasants .....

ii.

87

1823.

Norway, Denmark, Russia, and Switzerland. Wolves and

Foxes (Rabies) ......

ii.

89

1824.

Sweden, Russia, Norway. Wolves and Foxes (Rabies)

ii.

99

1826.

Germany. Foxes (Rabies) . .

ii.

220

1831.

Europe. Ceylon ......

n. 179-89

1833-

Bohemia. Hares ......

11.

209

1834.

England. Deer ......

ii.

243

1835.

Prussia, Deer ; Switzerland, Foxes ....

ii.

247

1836.

India. Rats

ii.

291

1837.

Wurtemburg, Foxes (Rabies) ; France, Wild Ducks

ii.

303

1838.

South America. Wild Animals ....

ii.

308

1839-

Ireland, Rooks ; India, Gaours ...

ii.

322

1841.

New Granada. Monkeys ( Variola)

ii.

448

Chronological Synopsis of General Diseases. 539

EPIZOOTIC DISEASES AMONG FISH.

A.D. VOL. PAGE

444. England . . . . . . .1.38

916. Ireland . . . . . . . i. 51

1014. Bohemia . . . . . . •1-59

1046. England . . . . . . . i. 61

1240. England . . . . . . • >• 73

1529. Germany ....... i. 131

1 591. Leipsic . . . . . . . i. 138

1650. Europe ....... i. 144

1680. Germany . . . . ' . . . i. 150

1709. Zurich . . . . . . . i. 179

171 1. Germany ....... i. 182

1 714. Silesia ....... i. 207

1717. Germany . . . . . . . i. 228

1722. Lake Constance ...... i. 236

1726. Germany ....... i. 239

1 741. Ireland ....... i. 265

1757. France ....... i. 394

1760. France ....... i. 401

1763. Nantucket ....... i. 422

1774. America. Oysters and Lobsters . . . . i. 465

I775' Sumatra and America . . . . . i. 482

1789. Norway, Lapland, Archangel, America . . . i, 528

1823. England, Helsingland . . . . . ii. 88, 89

1825. Russia . . . . . . . ii. 102

1 83 1-2. Baltic, Brandenburg . . . . . ii. 176

1835. Ireland ....... ii. 259

THE END.

BAILLliRE, TINDALL, AND COX, 20, KING WILLIAM STREET, STRAND, LONDON.

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