History of Animal Plagues. 235 



time, is the noise made by the storks in Silesia. ' On the 23rd 

 of April came the storks in a large swarm from south to north 

 over the city of Brcslau ; this the superstitious considered as 

 an omen, and prophesied the arrival of strange people. From 

 Luzin it was said the storks at this time had thrown everybody 

 into astonishment, for in April, after their arrival, large numbers 

 of them mioht be seen in rows tooether, so that at a distance 

 they were taken for a crowd of people; some estimated these 

 groups at 400, and noticed that they formed a circle and pecked 

 themselves. From Rawicz : On the 12th April came a large 

 number of storks in the morning, flying very high .... From 

 Luzin they write in May, that there was much talk of the storks, 

 in consequence of their pecking themselves so constantly, and 

 when they lay eggs, they afterwards break them and go away, but 

 come occasionally back again, and bite themselves very much.' ^ 



In the same year, and the same country, rabies in the dog 

 seems to have been wonderfully frequent.^ 



Another strange phenomenon was the generally laborious 

 parturitions of the domestic animals at this period : ' the sheep 

 in many places lambed with great difficulty, so that the shep- 

 herds were obliged to use force to deliver them.' ' Among the 

 cattle one hears of nothing particular beyond the fact that the 

 breeding cows and ewes brought forth their young with great 

 difficulty, so that force was obliged to be used to assist them. 

 At Strelitz three fine young cows died from this laborious parturi- 

 tion. They strained so violently that all their internal organs were 

 protruded. Such cows, however, might be saved, were these organs 

 bathed with warm water, gently returned, the labia of the vagina 

 sewn together, and the animals slung up with their hind quarters 

 elevated. This procedure is always necessary when such accidents 



ease had been most prevalent, complained of the scarcity of chickens, the hens lay- 

 ing but little and not hatching. Nothing like this occurred in the localities where 

 there had been no ergotism. Two fowls were sent to him presenting spasmodic 

 symptoms; when placed on their feet they fell on their sides, struggled with their 

 limbs, and tlieir heads hung helplessly down. When they sjiasmodically struggled 

 to get up, their phalanges were violently contracted. TJiey di(.-d in about four 

 weeks, and with severe spasmodic attacks. — Geschichte der Kriebelkrankheit, 1 7S2, 



PP- 13. '5- 



1 Breslauer Samml., vol. xvi. p. 436, 556. ''■ Ibid. vol. xv. p. 166. 



