History of Animal Plagues. lyi 



Heusinger, however, is not quite satisfied as to the identitv of 

 this bird disease with small-pox. 



A.D. 1698. Epidemie catarrh in France and an epizocitv 

 among cattle, but especially horses, and which has been de- 

 scribed as a bilious plague.^ 



A.D. 1699. ' V^olcanoes and earthquakes. Widespread in- 

 fluenza in the human species in America all the previous 

 winter, followed by malignant spotted and other fevers. Catarrh 

 among horses, and then among people.^ ^ 'In 1699 a severe 

 and awful catarrh was epidemic in England, and the same 

 malady, with much cough, was epizootic among horses in 

 England and France.'^ The plague of insects in Ireland, noticed 

 in 1688, appeared again this year. 



In Germany, in 1700, small-pox was prevalent, and ergotism 

 was very frequent. ' On the 4th July, a.d. 1699, a moisture of a 

 sweet and glutinous character was observed on the corn and 

 the leaves of trees and fruits. This honey-like substance, or 

 dew, although of a sweet and pleasing flavour, seemed neverthe- 

 less to conceal a volatile pungency or sharpness; so that some 

 of those who were sufficiently curious to touch it with their lips 

 were immediately affected with a singular nausea and vomiting, 

 and on the lips of several people a small ulcer appeared. A 

 few persons, who had at that time delayed too long in the 

 fields, were seized with burning fevers, and those who walked 

 with naked feet, as the field labourers were accustomed to do, 

 were suddenly attacked with pustules and ulcerations on them. 

 Corn, also, and especially the grain of wheat, on which the dew 

 had settled most largely, was diseased in a remarkable manner, 

 being black and gross. This is what is commonly called 

 'blighted corn^ {mutter- korti). But as in more fertile years the 

 grain was marked in this way, so in the present was it very 

 abundant, especially in the valleys and low grounds throughout 

 the whole of Thuringia, and in the country and provinces around 

 Erfurt; so that in the memory of man a more prolific crop had 

 never been seen. From the use of this, instead of ordinary and 



* Bascome. Op. cit. "^ Forster. Op. cit., p. i6j. 



3 Webster. Op. cit., vol. i. p. 344. 



