MEMOIR OF CAMPER. 55 



It is also, we believe, very well known, that a wound 

 equally dangerous is occasionally the result of con- 

 tact, not of a human body, but of an animal slaught- 

 ered by the butcher, and exposed in the shambles. 

 When, in this country, an accident happens from this 

 latter cause, it is usually numbered among those ano- 

 malous occurrences of which no explanation is to be 

 expected. Our indefatigable agriculturist, however, 

 has thrown some light on the point, by informing us 

 that the poisonous property resides in the flesh of 

 cattle which have died of a certain disease, of which 

 he gives the symptoms, and supplies the history. 



" In some districts of Friesland, for it does not 

 pervade the whole, and these usually low and damp 

 situations, the disease in question annually occurs 

 epidemically, and under the name of The poison 

 ftfenyn)) proves fatal to many cattle. It has also 

 been observed in Livonia, Finland, and in some parts 

 of Russia." According to our author, Van Phelsum 

 is the only writer who had previously taken notice 

 of it. It is a disease, consequently, which previously 

 had been little known, and the cause of which was 

 very obscure. The first symptoms are loss of appe- 

 tite and diminution of the milk in milch cows ; thea 

 the rumination nearly ceases, and sometimes large 

 tumours appear under the skin, which are not, how- 

 ever, critical^ and sometimes disappear. This is fol- 

 lowed by a violent but low fever, under which the 

 animal expires. The whole family of Wack cattle, 



