24 



CATTLE-PLAGUE 



CATULLUS 



cattle, or with hides and offal which have been 

 exposed to the contagion ; and is hitherto unknown 

 in America, Australia, and New Zealand. It is 

 essentially a disease of the bovine family (ox, 

 aurochs, and zebu), but may be communicated 

 to the sheep, goat, deer, camel, giraffe, antelope, 

 gazelle, and even the peccary. 



Records of fatal plagues in cattle have been 

 handed down from very early dates, but the 

 descriptions are so meagre that it is possible only 

 to surmise their nature. It is probable that one 

 of the plagues of Egypt was a form of anthrax, 

 but in the reigri of Nero (69 A.D.) Columella 

 describes a disease which resembles cattle-plague. 

 He says : ' The fever is present when tears are 

 trickling down the face, when the head is carried 

 low and heavily, and the eyes are closed ; when 

 the saliva flows from the mouth, when the respira- 

 tion is shorter than in health, and seemingly em- 

 barrassed or sometimes accompanied by groaning. ' 

 About 400 A.D. Vegetius Renatus describes, under 

 the term Malleus, a disease which might have been 

 cattle-plague. In 809-10 A.D., during the wars of 

 Charlemagne, occurred a great outbreak of cattle- 

 plague, which spread over nearly the whole of 

 Europe, and particularly Britain. In 1348-49 a 

 plague broke out amongst the cattle in England, 

 just after the black death had destroyed thousands 

 of human beings ; it seems to have been similar to 

 cattle-plague. Even in those days the stamping- 

 out system was understood, as the diseased cattle 

 were slaughtered, and infected herds, and the 

 herdsmen attending them, were kept from coming 

 into contact with sound animals. 



In 1480 another outbreak occurred which com- 

 mitted great devastation. It cannot be stated 

 positively that these outbreaks were cattle-plague, 

 as the symptoms have not been clearly handed 

 down, but there is evidence to prove that out- 

 breaks occurring in 1715, in 1745, and which con- 

 tinued until 1757, were those of the veritable 

 plague. That of 1745 was brought from Holland 

 either by two white calves, or by a parcel of dis- 

 tempered hides brought from Zealand. The disease 

 broke out near London, continued for twelve years, 

 and was only suppressed by most vigorous measures. 

 It again made its appearance in 1865, and was 

 introduced by 331 cattle shipped at Revel, and 

 landed at Hull. Amongst these were 13 Russian 

 cattle, the remainder of 46 which had been 

 brought from St Petersburg and its neighbour- 

 hood. The cargo arrived on 29th May, and a lot 

 of 146 were disposed of at Hull on the' 30th. The 

 remaining 175 were sent to London. Amongst 

 them were 330 sheep which were sold at Hull to 

 the butchers and killed, and all the 175 cattle 

 except 20 were sold for killing, but the remaining 

 20 were sent to Gosport. From this source the 

 disease spread rapidly, and by the end of July it 

 appeared in Aberdeenshire, brought by 4 calves 

 sent to Huntly from the south. By the beginning 

 of November the plague was present in 30 counties 

 in England, 17 in Scotland, and 1 in Wales ; and 

 on December 30 the disease had appeared on 7443 

 farms or in cattle-sheds in England, 2065 in Scot- 

 land, and 245 in Wales ; total 9753 centres of 

 infection. The total number of cattle on farms, in 

 sheds, or other places where the disease had been 

 officially reported to exist, was England, 110,647 ; 

 Scotland, 44,527; Wales, 4536; total, 159,710. 

 And the number of healthy animals in contact 

 and slaughtered were England, 10,636 ; Scotland, 

 6578; Wales, 152; total, 17,366. The number 

 attacked were England, 48,964 ; Scotland, 22,298 ; 

 Wales, 2287; total, 73,549. Out of this number 

 7045 recovered, 41,491 died, 13,931 were killed, and 

 11,082 remained diseased at this date. The plague 

 continued to spread and to commit great navoc, 



until an Order in Council was issued making it 

 compulsory to slaughter and bury all diseased 

 cattle, as well as those which had been in contact 

 with them. The beneficial effect of this order was 

 soon made apparent, as the disease gradually 

 diminished and eventually died out. 



Had the restrictions upon cattle traffic been 

 removed, there would have been another visitation 

 in 1872, for in July of that year, animals affected 

 with the disease were sent to Deptford, Hull, and 

 Leith, but owing to its swift recognition, were not 

 allowed to land in Scotland. From Hull, however, 

 it spread to Bridlington, Pocklington, and two 

 other parishes in the East Riding of Yorkshire, 

 but through the activity of the authorities was 

 prevented from spreading further. 



Sheep do not readily take the disease when kept 

 in fields with affected cattle, but if kept together 

 in close sheds, they take the disease in a short 

 time. 



Symptoms. The virus absorbed into the blood 

 gives rise to elevation of temperature (fever), 

 which precedes all other symptoms, and occurs in 

 from 36 to 48 hours after an animal has been 

 inoculated. It will be thus seen that the period of 

 latency incubation is very short. Two days 

 after this elevation of temperature, the mucous 

 membrane of the mouth, as well as that of the 

 vagina in the cow, assumes a salmon colour, and 

 is covered with an eruption. Even at this time 

 the pulse is but little affected, but on the fourth 

 day from the first rise of temperature there are 

 marked signs of illness ; the constitution is 

 thoroughly invaded, and now ensue the drooping 

 head, hanging ears, distressed look, with rigors 

 and twitching of the muscles, failing pulse, op- 

 pressed breathing, diarrhrea, fetid breath, dis- 

 charge from the eyes, nose, and mouth, and con- 

 stant moan so characteristic of this dreadful 

 malady ; death usually occurs on the seventh day 

 from the first perceptible elevation of temperature, 

 but the third or fourth after the illness is apparent 

 to ordinary observers. 



Cause and Cure. As long ago as 1872 the disease 

 was believed, and has since been proved, to be 

 caused by microbes (see GERM). The awful epi- 

 demic which, entering Africa from the north-east 

 about 1889, desolated a great part of South Africa, 

 gave appallingopportunities forstudyingthe malady 

 and attempting cures. The disease reached the 

 Zambesi in 1895 ; in Matabeleland between March 

 1896 and January 1897 it left of all the vast herds of 

 horned cattle probably not 500 alive, buffaloes and 

 antelopes being also exterminated. Bechuanaland, 

 the Transvaal, Orange Free State, and Cape Colony 

 ( 1897) were successively desolated. In 1897 Koch of 

 Berlin was at work, and his inoculative methods 

 (with cultivated microbes, serum, &c.) were believed 

 to lend help if not immunity ; and Edington ob- 

 tained success by inoculating living animals with 

 the blood of those dead of the disease after treating 

 it with citric acid, as also by inoculating with 

 glycerine and bile, &c. 



Catto'lica, a town of Sicily, with sulphur- 

 works, 14 miles NW. of Girgenti. Pop. 6591. 



Catullus* GAIUS VALERIUS, the greatest lyric 

 poet of ancient Italy, and one of the greatest poets 

 of all ages, was born at Verona either in 87 or, 

 more probably, in 84 B.C. Few of the incidents in 

 his life are known to us, and the dates assigned 

 to these are in most cases only conjectural. He 

 appears to have belonged to the equestrian order, 

 and his years were spent mainly at Rome, where 

 he settled about 62 B.C., and at his villas, to which 

 he was fond of retiring, at Tibur and Sirmio. He 

 began to write verses when a boy of sixteen or 

 seventeen. ' When my primrose youth was in its 



