2,02 History of Animal Plagues. 



sale of hides was interdicted, and the flesh, horns, and fat of 

 the animals were ordered to be buried in deep pits and covered 

 with- quicklime. Religious ceremonies were prescribed, and 

 prayers offered, by order of the Sacred College, to stay the pro- 

 gress of the plague. Measures also were taken to prevent the 

 sale of diseased meat. Inspectors were appointed to visit the 

 markets ; and only those pieces of flesh which were stamped 

 with a hot iron by the inspector were allowed to be sold. Salt- 

 ing the diseased meat was also forbidden. ' It may, perhaps, be 

 doubtful,' says Lancisi, ' whether the eating of diseased meat is 

 hurtful; but still it is best to err on the safe side.' Skinning 

 the dead carcases was prohibited, because thereby exit would be 

 given to diseased matters, which might thus be spread abroad by 

 the wind, and through the infected soil. ' The severity of the 

 edicts were complained of,' he adds, ' but it is a fact that here, 

 where the laws were strictly enforced, the plague was arrested 

 much sooner than in the other parts of Italy.' 



A number of sage measures are detailed, intended to anticipate 

 the misery which might arise from the destruction of cattle; 

 and the great liberality shown by the Papal Government to those 

 who had suffered losses is made manifest. Calculations made of 

 the beasts killed by the plague, during its nine months' visitation 

 in the Campagna and the city district, showed that '26,2^% had 

 perished. 



The various edicts issued by the Sacred College are given at 

 length by Lancisi, because ' he thinks they will be of great 

 service to posterity, if a similar misfortune should ever again hap- 

 pen — which mayHeaven avert! Theymay be regarded as sure and 

 certain documents, teaching how the plague may be extinguish- 

 ed,' &c. With regard to the nature of the malady, he agrees 

 very closely with the opinion given by Ramazzini in 1711. He 

 reminds us that the Greeks made four classes of cattle diseases : 

 the dry, the moist, the articular, and subcutaneous; and he en- 

 deavours to show, that, in this contagion, three of these classes 

 were present, the articular alone being absent. He asks, ' why 

 should we exclude the subcutaneous ? . . . Do we not see 

 that the skin is stripped of its hair by the disease, horripila- 

 tion, tremor of the shoulders and buttocks, and that it is 



