2 SMiVLL-POX IN SIIKKP. 



bably from time to time to break forth and ileciniatc 

 our Hocks, as variola does, or used to do, our po'pula- 

 tion*. Of late years both our cattle and sheep have 

 suffered severely from epizo()tics, and we cannot but 

 regret that the disease we are now treating of should 

 be added to the number of these scourges ; for tlie 

 interests not merely of the agriculturists, but of the 

 whole community, must be seriously compromised if 

 it is found to extend itself, as we have great reason 

 to fear that it may do, since accounts are frequently 

 reaching us of its having broken out in different and 

 new places in the kingdom. 



Variola Ovina is spoken of as a very destructive 

 complaint in most parts of the continent, and several of 

 those who have written on the subject, tell us that it 

 frequently assumes the epizootic type ; many sheep pro- 

 bably being attacked during some seasons, and fewer in 

 others. From the earliest periods down to the present 

 time mahgnant diseases have raged on the continent, and 

 some of them have visited England ; a question might, 

 therefore, arise, has sheep-pox been one of the number ? 

 To this it is, perhaps, impossible to give a decided nega- 

 tive ; but we incline to the opinion, that this malady has 



* But a few years have elapsed since small- pox broke out with 

 fearful violence in the city of Noi'wich, and carried off a large num- 

 ber of its inhabitants. Mr. Cross, writing of the affection, says : " It 

 was comparatively dormant during the winter, and when the season 

 became milder, it burst upon us suddenly and unexpectedly, con- 

 tinuing its work of devastation for three or four months with undi- 

 minishing fury." ' Upwards of 3000 persons, or a thirteenth part of 

 the whole population were affected ; the total deaths were for the 

 year [1819], 1352, and of these 530 died from small-pox, and 822 from 

 all other causes.' — A History of tlie Variolous Epidemic, p. 4, 5, Svo, 

 London, 1820. 



