History of Animal Plagues. 283 



cases of the cattle in the sickly countries, as to the quantity and 

 qualities of their food.' ^ 



There is in the London Gazette of Saturday, May 25th_, 

 1745, the following paragraph, viz. : 



'Hamburg, May 19th, N.S. The mortality among the 

 horned cattle has now reached within a German mile and a half 

 of the Balliage of Pinnenberg, contiguous to the territory of 

 Hamburg, which is of little extent on the side of Danish Hol- 

 stein. The appearance of this same distemper at Hamburg, 

 gives an alarm lest it should gain further on that side of the 

 country, proper precautions are used to prevent its spreading, 

 and to get the better of it in its beginning, which is attributed 

 to some infected cattle having passed through there. This evil 

 has communicated itself likewise to the Danish Islands of Zee- 

 land and Fuhnen.^ 



Dr Layard " gives us a very detailed description of the disease, 

 but drawn chiefly from other authors. His work did not appear 

 until twelve years after the outbreak of the pest. Its substance 

 will be presently given in the words of Mr Dossie. 



Two years before Layard's Essay was published, Malcolm 

 Flemming recommended inoculation as a preventative of the 

 Cattle Plague. His recommendations are contained in a pamph- 

 let entitled, ' A Proposal, in order to Diminish the Progress of 

 the Distemper among the Horned Cattle, supported by Facts.' 

 London, 1755. See also The Gentleman's Magazine, vols. xxiv. 

 and XXV. for 1754 and 1755. The earlier volumes also contain 

 many notices on the progress of the Cattle Plague. 



With reference to inoculation, for November, 1 754, it says : 

 'Mr Dobson, a gentleman of Yorkshire, lately connimnicated 

 to Mr l^son, a farmer and higgler of Tottenham, in Middlesex, 

 a method of preserving his cattle by inoculation. This method 

 Mr Dobson had learned from an eminent physician in Yorkshire. 

 The operation was performed by an incision in the dewlap, into 

 which was inserted a piece of tow dipped in the morbid niatter 



' Dr Theophilus Lobb. Letters relating to the Plague and Contagious Distem- 

 pers, 1745. 



* Dr Layard. An'Essay on the Nature, Cause, and Cure of the Contagious 

 Distemper among the Horned Cattle in these Kingdoms. London, 1757. 



