History of Animal PlagiLes. 169 



comednnt [gallince), sub ociil'is illis grana ipsa procedunt, qiicB 

 nisi acii leviter apertis pelliculis aiiferaniur, exstingmnit.' Deme- 

 trius (a. d. 1261) says: 'Si in ore aid in alia corporis parte pustulcB 

 sint, trade alteri accipitrem scite tenendum, tu vero acicula pus- 

 tulas aperito, cesque sinito evaporari, deinde melle nosato ilUnito' 

 And in De Cresentiis (a.d. 1233 — 1307) / we have a more decided 

 designation : * Item nascuntur columhls varioli circa ocuhis, qui 

 exccecant eos, maxime mense Augusto. Vendendi sunt aut come- 

 dendi cum solo capite sunt infecti.' Buhle and Bossi^ assert that 

 a disease similar to small-pox is known to affect turkeys, and 

 that the Italians term it coralli. Nitsch^ says that wild goslings 

 and wild pigeons, when young, often have the small-pox {pocken 

 kranklieit). Bechstein* also declares that wild fowl are affected 

 with the 'blattern,^ and that the disease is contagious. In India 

 the malady appears to have been known from the highest an- 

 tiquity, and an English observer in quite recent days thus alludes 

 to it: 'While on this subject, I would beg to submit to the 

 society the propriety of inquiring into the exact nature of that 

 disease among fowls, which is called small-pox, or maota, by the 

 natives. In Calcutta it is not much heard of; but up the 

 country, where almost every one is compelled to keep their own 

 stock, it becomes a very interesting matter. It generally appears 

 in the rains, and seems highly infectious or epidemic; when one 

 fowl is attacked, it is generally followed by a succession of others, 

 so as sometimes to depopulate the farm-yard. The symptoms 

 are pyrexia and a refusal of food, soon after which pustules break 

 out on the head, about the ears and eyes, and on the upper and 

 lower surface of the tongue. Indeed, I believe they generally 

 appear first in this latter situation. Afterwards they appear in 

 different parts of the body, chiefly under the wings. The animal 

 languishes for four or five days, and then dies. Is this disease 

 at all allied to human variola ? In its symptoms it bears a good 

 deal of resemblance to it, and deserves, on that account, to be 

 investigated.' ° 



* Opus Ruralium Commodorum, I47i. 



2 Bossi. Trattato de Malattie degli Ucelli. Milan, 1823. 



3 Naumann. Naturgcsch. die Vogel Deiitschlands, vol. i. p. 125. 

 ■* Naturgeschichte der Stubenvogcl, ]ip. 20, 456. 



* lytler. Transactions of Med. and Thys. Soc. of Calcutta, vol. iv. p. 423. 



