8 SMALL-POX IN SIIK.K.r. 



those places where no animal is ])asturccl, lest, by their 

 contagion, they endanger all the rest, and what results 

 from the negligence of the owner be imputed, as is 

 usually done by fools, to the Divine disi)leasure*." Car- 

 dinal Baronius states, that in the year 376, when the 

 cattle died of the plague all over Europe, none escaped 

 but such as were marked on the forehead with the sign 

 of the cross, by which miraculous immunity many per- 

 sons are said to have been converted to the Christian 



faith. 



In the year 810, it is stated that an epizootic raged 

 to such an extent as to destroy every head of cattle 

 in the Emperor Charlemagne's army, and to have been 

 fearfully destructive throughout the German empire. 

 It would be useless at present to attempt to trace the 

 history of epidemics in the dark ages. 



In the sixteenth century, however, various outbreaks 

 are related of malignant affections among cattle ; and 

 Rammazini records that the Venetian states suffered 

 greatly in 1514 and 1599, when "all beef and veal, 

 and hkewise milk, were forbidden by the senate to l)e 

 eaten." He also says, that at Modena, in 1690, the 

 season was cold and moist ; and the distemper of that 

 year attacked all the people who lived in the country, 

 and spread indiscriminately among all kinds of animals, 

 killing great numbers after a few days' illness. Nature 

 made strong efforts to disengage herself from the dis- 

 ease. A critical discharge manifested itself on the 

 thighs, neck, and head, resembling the pustules of 

 small-pox. Most of the animals which had this appear- 

 ance, lost their eyesight. Those creatures w'hich were 

 not carried off by the disease, but resisted its first \\o- 



* Translation of Vegetius Reuatus on Diseases of Horses and 

 Oxen. London. 8vo, 1748, p. 227-8. 



