120 THE CONTAGIOUS TYPHUS 



more than a month after the outbreak the 

 whole of the south of England was in some 

 sort contaminated. Thence the contagion 

 extended to the north of the kingdom, and 

 passed into Scotland ; so that, at present, 

 the cattle-typhus has spread its ramifications 

 over a great number of the counties of Great 

 Britain.* 



In the first instance, the contagion spread 

 from animal to animal by means of an infect- 

 ing influence in some degree direct, among 

 cattle sheltered beneath the same roof, or 

 collected in swarms within the same markets. 

 But very soon the air itself was impregnated 

 and polluted by the vaporization and diffusion 

 of the typhic miasma ; and herds of cattle 

 which had no contact, either direct or indirect, 

 with infected animals, were seen to be tainted 

 with the distemper. Whether this contami- 

 nation was produced by the passage of attainted 

 cattle along the public roads (having fields on 

 the right and left), or otherwise, nothing but an 

 an absolute isolation, an utter impossibility of 

 contact, appeared to offer a perfect immunity 

 against the spread of the evil. 

 * See Notes K, L. 



