Histojy of Animal Plagues. 140 



found ; and the muscular fibres of the heart, when exposed, were 

 seen to be soft and wasted. The hver, however, in all of them, 

 was most affected. In manv cows it was full of watery tumours, 

 varying in size from a fist, an apple, a walnut, or a hazel nut. 

 In some cases there was a large tumour in which a few of the 

 lesser ones were included. The livers of some oxen were free 

 from hydatid cvsts, but they were everywhere scirrhous. The 

 gall bladder was very much increased in size, and full of peculiar 

 fluid which was pale in colour, and flowed like water. Not only 

 in nearly all the branches of the vena portae, but also in the 

 biliary ducts, many worms were found (like dhtoma). ... I also 

 remember that in this year I found some dead hares in the 

 month of spring in the country, and their hearts were flaccid, 

 while their livers were dotted here and there with black spots.' ^ 



A.D. 1679. Great epidemy in Andalusia, but more severely 

 at Vienna. The summer hot and damp. Mushrooms were 

 very plentiful, according to Sorbait. Cats and birds died in 

 Vienna during the plague. In Hungary, diseases of a carbim- 

 cular nature appeared. The following account may be interest- 

 ing. ' In the little town of Czierko (in Hungary), in the sum- 

 mer of 1679, a certain winged insect, unknown to all, appeared, 

 and mortally wounded both man and beast with its sting, 

 causing great mortality among them. For instance, in this one 

 little township, thirty-five men, and a great number of oxen and 

 horses, were killed by them. No one was proof against their at- 

 tack, and they fixed their stings on any part not covered by a gar- 

 ment, namely, the face, the neck (and in this spot the Poles par- 

 ticularly suffered, on account of their habit of cutting their hair), 

 the hands, or any other part of the naked flesh. A hard tumour 

 soon formed on the part stung, and unless the wounds were im- 

 mediately attended to in the first three hours, and the poison v\- 

 tracted by scarification, or some other like means, all after-treat- 

 ment was unavailing, and the sufferers died within a few days. 

 This species of insect was unknown in those parts, and had ne\ er 

 before been seen by any one. Many people were jiersuaded that it 

 was sent by God for a punishment ; and it seems evident that it 

 was the work of a deity, because they confined themselves within 

 ^ Willius. Acta Ilavniens. 1674, p. 132, obs. 76. 



