History of Animal Plagues. 203 



infected with spots and pustules {inaculis denique et pustuUs 

 infccta cutis) ? so much so, indeed, that some have thought that \ 

 the oxen were destroyed, not by the plague, but by the puStular 

 disease called small-pox [loves non lue, sed ipsis pustulis, qiias 

 variolas vacant, inter ire).' As before mentioned, he had no doubt ' 

 whatever about the origin of the malady in Italy, though there 

 seems to have b^en some disputation regarding it; thus affording 

 us another wonderful example of the analogy of the outbreak 

 in those days and in that part of the world, to that which 

 we recently suffered from. He says: ' I now come to a question 

 of the deepest importance, wherein there can be no dispute 

 about the mere signification of words. Whence came the pesti 

 lence ? It is certain that our cattle were free from the plague, pre 

 vious to the arrival of the Hungarian ox at the estate of Count 

 Borromeo. From that spot, and from that moment, spread the 

 flame which has decimated our herds. The arguments used by 

 some objectors, that the plague appears amongst cattle far 

 removed from a manifest source of infection, arc easily disposed 

 of. .... Is it not certain that the still more terrible plague 

 which destroys mankind, is often carried to great distances by 

 animals, and in clothes, papers, 8cc. But where could I find a 

 better proof of the fact than in your own excellent commentaries 

 (those of Bishop Borromaeus)? Did not the herdsman who 

 attended the diseased animals, afterwards visit other cattle in per- 

 fect health and infect them all, through the contagious particles 

 adherin*'- to his clothes ? Did not the most learned Valisneriusi 

 write to caution me that the disease might be conveyed long dis- 

 tances by dogs ? Considering these things, and reflecting in how\ 

 many ways, and how far the pestilential virus may be carried by 

 men and animals and by winds, there is no need for me to seek for 

 hidden and unknown causes of the disease, when I have before 

 my eyes the proof of its origin offered by that Hungarian ox. 

 You yourself relate the case of an ox in perfect health, which tell 

 ill immediately after feeding in a field where diseased cattle had 

 been previously pastured; reminding me of the words of Gesner: 

 'Oxen in feeding infect the grass, in drinking the fountains; 

 when housed they infect their stalls, and in this way healthy 

 cattle peiish through breathing the emanations from the sick.' 



