History of Animal Plagues. 25 



be the same as that for pigs — ovem pulmonariam ut suem curare 

 convenit, &c. 



There was another disease, to which the inhabitants of the 

 Campagna gave the name of Coriago. It consisted in so close 

 an adherence of the skin to the ribs, that it was impossible to 

 detach it. Columella attributed it to the heavy rains to which 

 the oxen were exposed during their labour. His remedy was to 

 rub them frequently with wine in the sunshine. 



Much attention is given to the ignis sacer of sheep. He says, 

 ' Est etiam insanabilis ignis sacer, quern pusulam vocant pas- 

 tores.' ' If it is not arrested,' he adds, 'when the first animal is 

 attacked, it soon affects the whole flock. There is no remedy for 

 it. The disease is irritated by the least touch, and nothino; but 

 the milk of goats can help to allay its intensity.' Dolus Mcnde- 

 sius, a veterinarian of Egyptian origin, is cited by him as one who 

 was able to give the method of recognizing and arresting the dis- 

 ease. This method consisted in often examining the backs of 

 the sheep, and if the slightest redness was perceptible, they were 

 to be promptly killed, and buried in their skins. Was this the 

 ovine small-pox ? Some authors have thought it was. There are 

 some circumstances in favour of this opinion, which we will 

 notice at a later period. 



In the ninth chapter of the sixth book ^ Columella goes on to 

 say, ' When an ox has the fever,' — which may have been that 

 peculiar type of Cattle Plague of which we have had such painful 

 experience, — ' he must not be allowed to eat for the space of a 

 day; after which, and before he has eaten anything, a little 

 blood must be abstracted from under the tail, then he must 

 be made to swallow thirty cabbage leaves baked in oil. This 

 food is to be given for five days, and while fasting, and he is to 

 have, besides, the tops of the lentisk, the olive tree, or any other 

 species of tender-leaved plants, or branches of the vine, and cold 

 water is to be allowed him to drink three times a-day.' 'This 

 treatment,' he insists, ' ou^ht to be followed out in the cow- 

 house, and the animal should not be allowed in the open air 

 until cured.' 'The fever is present,' he adds, 'when tears are 



' Scriploicb Rci Rublica. Gcsner, 1787. 



