22 8 History of Ajiimal Plagues. 



whole streets of booths were erected, coaches driven, sports and 

 diversions were used above the bridge. Thermometers lower 

 than on December 30, 1708. Spain suffered greatly by it. Wild 

 beasts, forced out of the wood, made strange ravage. Most 

 goldfinches, beside many other small birds, were killed by it.'^ 

 Rutty, of Dublin, writes : ' A general Rot among the sheep, as 

 I am well assured, did also prevail here, a.d, 17 16, after the 

 great frost of 1 7 15-16, and which, indeed, is said to have been 

 more universal than this (of 1752), for that destroyed the sheep 

 even upon the best lands.' ^ 



A.D. 1 71 7. This year was generally cold, especially in the 

 month of February. The spring was cold and damp, the summer 

 warm, with heavy rains, but the autumn was mild and agreeable. 

 An eruption of Vesuvius began in June and lasted until the next 

 year. In the Roman States an invasion of locusts did much 

 harm. Friesland was inundated, and half the province of Gro- 

 ningen destroyed, while all the Lower Elbe was under water. 

 Plague in mankind at Marseilles and in Aleppo. Ergotism very 

 prevalent, as well as epidemic jaundice. In Silesia, there was great 

 mortality amongst bees and carp, and in Hungary an epizooty 

 amongst geese and turkeys. ' From June to July, there appeared 

 a severe epizooty amongst turkeys and geese, of which a large 

 number died in a short time under the following circumstances. 

 For some days it was observed that they sat moping, without 

 any appetite, or inclination to eat, and at last became quite 

 giddy, staggered, and suddenly fell dead. In numbers of them 

 were discovered, under the feathers, suppurating tumours or 

 pustules, and dry scabbed eminences, and many believed that 

 this was a species of variola or small-pox, but how it originated 

 could not be discovered. Some thought it arose from the fact 

 of the dead diseased cattle having been improperly buried, and 

 that the geese, having eaten of the grass around their graves, 

 were consequently attacked by a similar disease in the throat. 

 To the same effect we hear from Prussia, and also Branden- 

 burg, that not only the herbage, but the ponds were poisoned 

 by a noxious mist or vapour, so that the surface of the water 



1 T. Short. Op. cil., vol. ii. p. 18. 2 j^nf/y^ Qp. cit. 



