History of Animal Plagues. t 



meurtriere que la premiere, qui f'ut mortelle pour tous les ani- 

 maux, et designee par ces mots, pest'is valde gravis. Ce qui 

 suppose un degre de force de plus.' 



Whewell ^ says that it is supposed the murrain only attacked 

 those cattle which were exposed on open pasture ; another proof 

 as to the probability of the disease being anthrax. A still 

 stronger proof than this, however, is to be found in the exemp- 

 tion of the cattle of the Israelites from the plague of boils as well 

 as flies, and which has been judiciously ascribed, I think, to the 

 fact, that ' the land of Goshen, in which the Israelites dwelt,' 

 was sandy pasture above the level of the river, while the rest of 

 Egypt was low-lying, and its soil submerged by the rising of the 

 Niie.2 ■ ' 



We might surmise, however, that the Israelites and their 

 flocks and herds escaped destruction owing very much, besides 

 the miraculous intervention of Providence, to the oreat care 

 with which Moses inculcated upon that people the necessity for 

 separating the clean from the unclean, the healthy from the dis- 

 eased, and taught the value of disinfection;^ as if the influence 

 of contagion had been already known to mankind. 



That the Egyptians were accjuainted with the Veterinary Art 

 from a very early period is certain, for on their most ancient 

 frescoes veterinary surgeons are accurately depicted attending to 

 the maladies of oxen and other animals, while the written cha- 

 racters indicating physician or doctor of these various creatures 

 are plainly inscribed underneath the jiaintings.* We can well 

 imacrine the severe trial their skill would undcro-o in contendins: 

 with such a murderous pest as that just noticed. 



B.C. 2048 (a.m. 2820.) Anepidcmyand epizooty in Ireland. 

 The Partholani, or tribe of Parthalon, waged war with ' rebellious 

 miscreants and tyrannous giants,' whom they utterly annihilated 

 in a fierce battle, and cast their carcases out ' like a sort of dead 

 dogs, whereof through stinke of the same, such an infective i)esti- 

 lence ensued in all places throughout the island, bv corrn|)tion of 

 the ague, that few escaped with life cxcejit those that got them 



' History of the Jews. - li^cstuioocl. The Eiilomologisl's Text Book. 



^ Leviticus, chap. xiii. 



* Wilkinson. Popular Account of tlie Ancient Egyptians. 



