HistoTy of Animal Plagues. ^3 



that nearly all the cattle dietl^ and one scarcely knew where to 

 obtain more.' ^ 



A.D. 1234. Aventinus speaks of a great epizooty [magna pes- 

 tis pecudum) among cattle in this year.^ Probably it was a con- 

 tinuation of that mentioned for last year. 



A.D. 1235. 'Tristan Calcho, the historian, informs us that 

 a pest broke out among quadrupeds, and was destructive to 

 nearly every beast of burden. Amongst birds it was particularly 

 destructive to domestic fowls.' ^ 



A.D. 1238. ' A severe and dreadful winter. . . . Afterwards 

 a plague broke out among birds, and chiefly amongst fowls. 

 Oxen and many other useful beasts suffered greatly.' * 



A.D. 1240. Disease (?) attacked the fish on the coast of Eng- 

 land, and pestilence raged in various parts of the country. Short 

 writes : — ' For about four months together, it scarcely ever 

 ceased raining, but about Easter it began to take up, turn clear 

 and fair. Then three months' drought caused great famine to 

 follow. In February appeared a comet which continued for 

 thirty days. Sore and heavy diseases on man and beast. There 

 was also a screat battle among; the fishes on the English coast, 

 by which eleven whales and multitudes of other large mon- 

 strous fishes were cast on the shore dead.'^ The battle 

 amongst the fishes was an ignorant way, no doubt, of account- 

 ing for the mortality amongst these denizens of the deep. 



In this year, accordina; to the Archives of the Aoricultural 

 Society of Southern Russia, the Cattle Plague appeared in Hun- 

 gary, and spread throughout nearly the whole of Europe. 



A.D. 1248. 'A plague and great famine in Britain and Ire- 

 land.'" 



A.D. 1249. Inundations were so frequent in Friesland that 

 agricultural operations were greatly retarded. Famine ensued, 

 and a disease broke out amonc^st cattle which nearly destroyed 

 them all. Mankind afterwards suffered from pestilence. This 

 state of affairs continued throughout the next year, and it was 



' IValset. Appenzeller Chronik. p. 154. ^ Annal. Boj., p. 637. 



^ Misccllan. Medic. Curios. Col. Agripp. 1677, p. 41. 



^ Roland. Hist. Muratori. Govern, delle Pesle, p. 6. 



5 T. Short. Op. cit., vol. i. p. 143. " Annales Camb-icc. 



