THE HISTORY OF VETERINARY SIEDICIXE. 053 



of the corniption of the hutnors, aiul are only most a])part'nt in the 

 latter sta«res of the disease. It is bi'licvcd that the contafrioii anionir 

 cattle is uii inflanimatory fever, a inali<^naut fever — a fever accom- 

 panied by an eruption of the skin — as well as an inflammation of the 

 stomach. It is evident that it is a disease of tlie lun«rs, which com- 

 mences by an inflammation, running often into gangrene ; at other 

 times into abscesses, and which terminates in phthisis. It is very 

 astonishing that among the number of modern doctors who have 

 written on a contagion existing for so many years, scarcely one has 

 observed that the seat of the disease exists in the lungs, or even that 

 these were attacked. 



" 4. The doctoi-s have established their remedial measures to cure 

 tin's disease on the notion that they knew its nature. Those who 

 look npon it as an intlammatory fever recommend bleeding, and 

 remedies of a soothing and cooling kind ; those who admit a corrup- 

 tion of the blood have ordered febrifuge and stimulating remedies ; 

 and those who consider it a putrid fever counsel tlie administration 

 of acids ; and, in Brandenburg, wild apples have been recommended 

 as a specific. Others, again, liave proposed quinine, and others mer- 

 cury, while the people have had recourse in general to incongruous 

 compositions, and to old-fashioned recipes. The ancients looked 

 mueli to setons passed through the skin, in order to establish a long- 

 continued suppuration. But it has been discovered, by sad expe- 

 rience, in Holland and England, that these remedies ai-e impotent ; 

 all hope of curing this disease has been lost, and people are content 

 to mitigate it by inoculation. We pass in silence the ])retendt'd prc- 

 aervatives hj ichich it is supposed animals are insured against the 

 cofita(/ion, and to which no man of sense icould give any cimjidence^ 

 seeing that they are useless against the p>lague^ the smallpox, and 

 other contagious diseases. 



"5. A long experience has taught us tliat remedies are useless 

 against the contagion. The beginning of the disease is nearly im- 

 perceptible, and when the symptoms arc manifested the cure has 

 become almost impossible. The use of remedies is otherwise dan- 

 gerous, for the infection is really communicated by the breath and 

 exhalations. We have a proof of this in the foul smell attached to 

 the clothes of people who look after the diseased beasts. "We can 

 not hope to cure in a day a disease of so serious a character; 

 and thus the diseased creature, which lives in the same stable with 

 other cattle, and feeds and drinks with them, may infect them 

 during the time we are unsuccessfully attempting to cure it. These 

 same exhalations may also lodge in the clothes of those who go 



