8 History of Animal Plagues. 



the presence of these entozoa. ' Hydropem etiam ex phymatis 

 oriri mihi argumento sunt boves, oves, et sues; in his enim 

 fere quadrupedibus puhiionis phymataoriuntur, quae aquam con- 

 tinent : sectione namque facta citissime cognoveris cum aqua 

 effluet/ {De interim Affect, par. v.) fie speaks of having been 

 informed by those who understood horses, that these animals 

 were Hable to all the infirmities with which mankind is afflicted. 



(a.m. 5001.) 'There was a great mortality of kine in Ire- 

 land in BreasaPs reio'n.'^ From this circumstance the kins; 

 receiv^ed the cognomen of Bodhiobhadh (cow destruction), or 

 Breasal Bodivo. ' In his (Breasal's) time there was such a mor- 

 reen (murrain) of cows in the land, as there were no more then 

 left alive but one bull and one heifer in the whole kingdom, 

 which bull and heifer lived in a place called Gleam-Samasge.^^ 

 The tradition of this event is still preserved in Glensawisk, or 

 the Glen of the Heifer, in the parish of Lower Bodoney, County 

 Tyrone, This is the first cattle epizocity on record in Ireland, 



B.C. 1 1 83. An epidemy and epizooty broke out, according 

 to Homer (h.c. 907), during the siege of Troy. At that time, 

 'whence to Greece unnumbered ills arose/ Chryses, high-priest 

 of Apollo, was dismissed by Atrides, with threats, when he 

 went to the Grecian camp to ransom his daughter from the 

 hands of her captors. The old man in his anger prays to Apol- 

 lo for revenge : 



' . . . . his pray'r Apollo heard : 

 Along Olympus' heights he pass'd, his heart 

 Burning with wrath ; behind his shoulder hung 

 His bow, and ample quiver; at his back 

 Rattled the fateful arrows as he moved : 

 Like the night-cloud he pass'd ; and from afar 

 He bent against the ships, and sped the bolt ; 

 And fierce and deadly twang'd the silver bow. 

 First on the mules and dogs, on man the last, 

 Was pour'd the arrowy storm ; and through the camp, 

 Constant and num'rous, blazed the fun'ral fires. 

 Nine days the heav'nly archer on the troops 

 Hurl'd his dread shafts.' ^ 



' Annals of the Four Masters. - Annals of Clonmacnoise. 



2 Hornet'' s Iliad, Book i., Earl Derby's Translation. 



