250 History of Animal Plagues. 



acrid liquid escaped. In some cattle, white, yellow, and black 

 fissures appeared towards the root of the tongue, and here and 

 there little hairs were observed growing in them (these were 

 probably portions of hay or other matters, which often lodge in 

 wounds of the tongue, especially in the horse). All the cattle 

 had the disease confined to the tongue, but horses had these 

 vesicles form upon their sheaths as well as on their tongues^ and 

 the mares about their sexual organs ; not unfrequently they also 

 showed themselves under the mane, and towards the rectum. 

 It was remarked that cattle, which one^^ day would have the dis- 

 ease on the upper part of the tongue, had it the next day on the 

 under surface, and that there it was far more active in its erosive 

 effects. In one case at Dielstorff, the cow's tongue was covered 

 with vesicles or small-pox {kinder -hlattern), and after the scraping 

 operation, it was black and dead-looking, but even this animal 

 recovered. It was generally observed, that where the disease was 

 neglected or improperly treated, in a very few hours it assumed the 

 characters of malignant carbuncle. As a testimony to the viru- 

 lence of the malady, it may be mentioned that in those cases 

 death took place in twenty-four hours, but not before the tongue 

 had sloughed out. Otherwise it was noticed, strange to say, 

 that the infected beast did not lose its appetite, but did its work, 

 and performed all its ordinary functions — a circumstance which 

 distinguishes this from all other cattle plagues.' ^ The rate of 

 travel of the contagion, the villages and towns attacked, and the 

 various kinds of animals affected, were all carefully noted. The 

 most striking feature of the epizooty was its uniform rate of ad- 

 vance, which could be calculated beforehand with certainty. In 

 Switzerland, it is mentioned as follows — 'The winter of 1733 was 

 very mild, and the spring was early in the spring, a sick- 

 ness among the cattle showed itself with vesicles on the tongues, 

 and which, if not immediately opened by means of a silver instru- 

 ment, and cleansed, then these organs became so corroded or 

 eaten away, that the animals died in twenty-four hours. This 

 disease passed through Wurtemberg, Suabia, Switzerland, and 

 into Italy, remaining but three or four days in one place. But 



^ Scheuchzer. Op. cit , p. 30. 



