4 History of Animal Plagues. 



liohtnino- heavy hailstorms, and excessive drouoht. The air 

 seemed pestilential, and as if of fire, while the nights were damp 

 and chilling. Storms of sand and dust thickly enveloped every- 

 thing as they were borne along on the sultry wind ; and cattle, as 

 well as the human species, were exposed to great risk of suffoca- 

 tion. The waters, owing to their impregnation with some sub- 

 stance, or to the sudden appearance of some animal or vegetable 

 matter, became of a red or blood colour. In the rivers and 

 streams all the fish died ; and these, as well as the lakes, became 

 putrid throughout the lowlands of Egypt. The peculiar condi- 

 tion of the atmosphere, and the corrupt state of the water, caused 

 the rapid growth of immense swarms of frogs, which invaded 

 every place. By some unknown agency these were all destroyed, 

 and \\ hen their remains were gathered into great mounds by the 

 fear-stricken inhabitants, the disgusting odour from the putrefy- 

 ing heaps became a deadly poison. Vermin covered the bodies 

 of men and animals ; clouds of winged insects harassed them 

 night and day; and these misfortunes, together with the tem- 

 pestuous weather, originated a fearful pestilence among all the 

 domestic creatures then kept by the Egyptians, The human 

 species were next attacked, and suffered much ; and a terrible 

 storm of lightning and hail destroyed cattle and vegetation. 

 Masses of locusts, carried over the land by the east wind, black- 

 ened the face of the earth and devoured what was left of the 

 herbage. Other horrors were added, and, to crown all, a dread 

 distemper slew the firstborn of man and beast. 



If we can judge by the meagre description of the malady 

 that attacked the Egyptians at the same time that their cattle 

 were suffering, and which was known as the ^ sixth plague,' the 

 epidemy and epizooty would appear to have iicen of a carbun- 

 cular nature.-^ Paulet ^ remarks, with reference to the character 

 of the disease : ' II y a apparence que ces idceres etoient la suite 

 de tumeurs inflammatoires, n'etoient autre chose que des char- 

 bons ou des bubons pestilcntiels, surtout de charbons, converts 

 de cloches ou de vescies, qui s'abscedoient, ce qui arrive souvent 

 dans ce cas, et constituoient une peste, vraiscmblablement moins 



^ Exodus, chap. ix. 

 - Recherchas sur les Maladies Epizootiques. Paris, 1775. Vol. i. p. 22. 



