Dr Eck on Glanders. 403 



swer he replies that he decidedly doubts it. But, be that as it 

 may, the frequency and the violence of the dreadful earthquakes 

 in Armenia are ever and anon proclaiming the real character of 

 the foundation on which it rests. 



On the Occurrence of Glanders in the Human Subject. By 

 Dr W. Eck.* 



That the introduction of contagious morbid products, de- 

 rived from the lower animals, into the human system, is capable 

 of producing much good and much evil, is universally known. 

 The protective of vaccination, and the disastrous effects of ino- 

 culation with the hydrophobic virus, affords striking examples. 

 The experience of modern times has taught us, that many con- 

 tagious diseases of the lower animals exercise a pernicious influ- 

 ence on man ; of these, I may mention mortification of the 

 spleen, and its consequences, the black pock fSchwarze Blat- 

 ter), and glanders, with its effects on man. ■ 



The phenomena of glanders (a disease attributable to lym- 

 phalic cachery by Veith, and ranged among the tubercular affec- 

 tions as a specific degeneration of the cellular tissue by Du- 

 puy), in its acute or chronic form, are well known, and have been 

 graphically described in the official report on contagious dis- 

 eases. We are also well acquainted with the phenomenon of 

 button farcy, a disease which bears a close relationship to glan- 

 ders, frequently conjoined with it, and generally arising from 

 one and the same source, occurring only in the genus Equus, 

 and its varieties, and distinguished chiefly from glanders by the 

 affection of the cutaneous lymphatics, while, in the latter dis 

 ease, those of the internal surface are engaged. It is likewise 

 generally admitted, that glanders may become spontaneously 

 developed in the horse, by errors in the nutritive functions, that 

 is to say, under conditions which gives rise to the morbid state 

 of the lymphatic system, and particularly of those glands which 

 have a more intimate organic connection with the mucous mem- 

 brane of the nostrils. Authors, however, are less generally 

 agreed as to the power of the infection which this disease pos- 



• Dublin Medical Journal, voL xii. p. 73. Translated from the Medi- 

 cinnische Zeitunj^ for May 1837. 



VOL. XXin. NO. XLVl. OCTOBER 1837. D d 



