252 Histoi'y of Animal Plagues. 



tive measures. The malady had then extended from France to 

 the banks of the Rhine, and was observ^ed at Frankfort and in 

 the duchy of Nassau in the month of January, '32. On the 4th 

 of February it was at Wallsdorf, in the country of Idstein and 

 Nassau; and on the 5th was in the baihwicks of Limburg and 

 Wehen of that duchy. ^ At the same time it was extending in 

 the north of France, and indeed had become general over the 

 whole kingdom, where it was named maladie de la langiie, vessie 

 a la langue, mal de langue, charhon, chancre volant, &c. At Lan- 

 guedoc, in the south, Sauvages noticed it : ' This plague, which 

 came through France, attacked and slew horses, oxen, and mules, 

 as well as men, atNemausi (Nismes), in 1732, Its symptoms were 

 a carbuncle at the root of the tongue, so that the whole organ was 

 gradually eaten out in a few days. The attacked quickly suc- 

 cumbed, because, besides fever and want of strength, there was 

 complete prostration of functions.-'^ This celebrated author was, 

 I think, the first to give it the name of ' glossanthrax.' 



In the ^ Maison Rustique' will be found various records of 

 this visitation in France. Its manifestations were similar to 

 those of the epizooty of 1682; consisting, first, in the appearance 

 of a vesicle on the tongue, occupying sometimes its base, some- 

 times the upper part, and at other times the sides of this organ. 

 This vesicle was primarily of a white colour, then it became red, 

 and in a very short time it assumed a livid or black hue. Then 

 it began to increase considerably in size, burst, and became an 

 ulcer of a chancrous character, which penetrated the whole 

 substance of the tongue, and caused the death of the animal. 

 So prompt was the course of the malady, that sometimes in less 

 than twenty-four hours from its commencement it had passed 

 through all its stages. There was no external sign to announce 

 its existence when an animal was first attacked ; nothing but an 

 inspection of the tongue could reveal its presence; and the most 

 astonishing feature of the disease was, that the creature could eat, 

 drink, and perform all its ordinary functions, until the tongue 



fell to pieces. It was remarked in 1731, that horses withstood 

 the epizooty better than horned cattle. Its origin was attributed 



^ Franqne. Op. cit., p. 122. 

 - Sauvages. Nosolog. Methodica, ed. Daniel., torn ii. p. 249. 



