SPLENIC APOPLEXY. 287 



1 sang de rate ' or ' maladie de sang/ Until within the last 

 five years, British veterinarians ignored the existence of this 

 disease. I had lectured upon it as far back as 1855, having 

 had occasion to witness a severe outbreak of it amongst the 

 cows kept by the Grand Duke of Tuscany, at the Cascine, 

 about a mile beyond the Florence gates. I had also read 

 many articles on the subject abroad, and it was only in 1858 

 that I first saw it in the north of England. My own students 

 then reported outbreaks in various parts, especially in Aber- 

 deenshire, and we now know that the disease occurs not un- 

 frequently in various parts of the United Kingdom. It is 

 certainly becoming more prevalent, as there are districts 

 where it has recurred several times of late years, and where 

 the malady was in former times quite unknown. In this 

 country cattle have suffered oftener. than sheep, whereas in 

 fertile districts on the Continent, and especially in France, 

 it commits serious ravages amongst sheep and especially 

 amongst lambs. As an illustration of the appearance of the 

 disorder in districts where formerly it must certainly have 

 been rare if it ever existed, I may allude to its prevalence in 

 the valley of the Yeo, near Ilchester, in Somersetshire since 

 1855; its occurrence in Northamptonshire and Lincolnshire 

 only within the last three or four years, and its outbreaks of 

 late in county Meath in Ireland. It is also singular that splenic 

 apoplexy first made its appearance in New South Wales in 

 the year 1847. It occurred on the estate of a Mrs Cordeaux, at 

 Leppington. The viscera of some of the animals that died 

 were sent to Dr Eckford of Liverpool, for examination, and 

 being eaten by a number of pigs belonging to the keeper of 

 the hospital, caused their immediate death. In March 1849 

 the malady reappeared at Leppington, and two men, father 

 and son, died from skinning a heifer. It again broke out on 

 the same estate towards the end of 1849, and in February 



