DISEASES OF THE OX AND SHEEP. 287 



pup, the sinew following with the portion thus removed, the 

 tail would not grow, and the dog would be secured from 

 disease. This absurd and barbarous custom is, in like manner 

 with the one mentioned above, practised to this day ; but it is 

 now recognised as cruelty in our courts of justice. 



Vegetius Renatus mentions rabies with other maladies 

 which affect the lower animals, and advises that cattle which 

 have been wounded by a mad dog should have the boiled 

 liver of the dog given them to eat, or else that it should be 

 made into balls and forced down as a medicine. 



In Britain the disease has probably occurred from the earliest 

 times. An Anglo-Saxon manuscript entitled ''Medicina de 

 Quadrupedibus," of Sextus Placitus, written apparently at the 

 beginning of the 11th century, is of interest. In it we find a 

 receipt for '' tear of mad hounds " as follows : — " Take the worms 

 which be under a mad hound's tongue, snip them away, lead 

 them round about a fig tree, give them to him who hath been 

 rent; he will soon be whole." It will be seen how very 

 similar this prescription is to that mentioned by Pliny, and 

 indeed it is remarkable how widely diffused over the world this 

 superstition has been. 



In the thirteenth century, Albertus Magnus alludes to the 

 disease and its appearance in horses. In 1271 rabid wolves invaded 

 the towns and villages of Franconia, and attacked the herds and 

 flocks, and thirty persons died from the bites. In 1748 many 

 oxen and swine in the county of Fife, Scotland, suffered from 

 the bites of mad dogs. In 1752 several mad dogs were 

 observed about St. James's, London. Orders were issued to 

 shoot all which appeared there, and in some country towns 

 similar orders were given. In the nineteenth century the disease 

 seems to have become much more frequent than before, especially 

 in, France, Germany, and England. 



In the winter and spring of 1837 rabid foxes were killed at 

 Ulm. The foxes attacked people in the woods or on the public 

 roads, and even entered villages. Every kind of domestic 

 animal, including even fowls, and badgers were also infected. 

 In some places all the foxes died, and so many people suffered 

 that there was a panic among the villagers. In 1804, at Crema, 

 in Italy, a mad wolf descended from the mountains in November 

 and bit thirteen persons, of whom nine died. 



