History of Aniinal Plagues. 243 



the animals, the disease began by a general horripilation and 

 diilness, with low hanging head and drooping ears, succeeded by 

 a corresponding febrile heat. Thirst was very great; the excre- 

 ments of the two first days were hard, but on the third day a 

 violent diarrhoea set in, which was so intense, that at each step 

 the animal expelled matters similar to the washings of flesh, and 

 everything extruded in this way had a most fetid odour; so fetid, 

 indeed, that healthy animals testified by their bellowings how 

 disagreeable thev were. The eyes became inflamed and nearly 

 closed ; the mouth and nostrils exhaled a repulsive smell ; the 

 tongue began to be excoriated, and rumination was entirely sus- 

 pended. Some breathed as if in pain ; others were tranquil, 

 though the respirations were quickened ; all had the flanks 

 drawn upwards ; deglutition was nearly impossible. Some died 

 on the fourth day; others survived till the seventh day. Milch- 

 cows yielded no milk, and those which were in calf aborted. The 

 young cattle, the bulls, and all fat stock were more quickly af- 

 fected by the contagion, and died more rapidly than the lean, the 

 old, or the hard-worked beasts. The cows which aborted for the 

 most part escaped ; a circumstance which induced the cow-- 

 leeches to give medicines to produce this effect, and thus to save 

 these creatures. The belief was a fixed one, that the disease was 

 propagated by the cattle of other countries. Reviewing the dif- 

 ferent descriptions given by Lanzoni, Lancisi, and Ramazzini, 

 the Doctor then passes on to his own observations. 



Going over all the phenomena which had been noticed, they 

 are attempted to be analyzed and explained ; and from them is 

 deduced the proof, that the disease is due to a miasma of a most 

 subtle and contagious nature, which penetrates by the nose and 

 the mouth, and is spread all over the body with the speed of 

 lightning. The blood, it was remarked, had a lesser tendency 

 to remain fluid than to coagulate ; and cattle when diseased and 

 killed by the butcher, bled very little; thus was the blood in the 

 same condition as in malignant fevers. Reasons are given for 

 naming the disease 'a fever, of a malignant and inflammatory 

 kind,^ after the example of Ramazzini. This fever is most acute, 

 and animals promptly die; some were even noticed to perish sud- 

 denly, as if struck by a thunder-bolt. 



