130 THE CONTAGIOUS TYPHUS 



any animal either tainted itself, or having lived 

 among those that were sick that the clothes 

 of persons and stable utensils, soiled with 

 putrid liquids that all these, and similar 

 causes, were capable of propagating or aggra- 

 vating the disease. 



But whilst we must loudly condemn the 

 voluntary misdeeds of those who drove their 

 sick cattle to market, it must likewise be 

 allowed that, to conform one's self rigidly to 

 the given injunctions, was sometimes attended 

 with serious embarrassments. How great, 

 indeed, must have been the perplexity of any 

 grazier who, being the owner, for instance, of 

 forty head of cattle, and having seen ten of 

 them perish under his eyes, without knowing 

 where to dispose of them, was threatened with 

 the loss of the remaining thirty within a few 

 days ! How could he calmly and patiently re- 

 sign himself to suffer so large a quantity of ani- 

 mal matter to accumulate and putrefy around 

 him, when, suddenly ruined, and destitute of 

 every resource, the authorities held back 

 instead of coming to his assistance. 



The prime cause of all the transgressions 

 committed in despite of the Privy Council's 



