300 History of Aiimial Plagues. 



The outbreak in England^ alluded to in the speech from the 

 throne^ occurred at Stoneham^ in Hampshire, in the winter of 

 1769, and appears to have attacked cows only; it was extin- 

 guished in January, 1770. Orders in Council, based on those of 

 1747, were issued, applying not only to Hants, but also to 

 Dorset, Surrey, Sussex, Middlesex, and Berks. 



In the Scots' Magazine for 1770, there is a great amount 

 of information on this so-called Cattle Distemper. In the 

 March number, it is said that ^the distemper among the horned 

 cattle, the lamentable effects of which, in Holland, are related 

 in our last, having made^ its appearance in this country, the 

 gentlemen who have the honour to serve the King exerted 

 themselves speedily, and we hope successfully, to stop its pro- 

 gress.' The disease was first supposed to have been commu- 

 nicated to cattle at Portsoy, in the county of Banff, by four 

 packages of hay imported from Holland. Dr Cullen, writing 

 on the 15th of April, 1770, says: Ht is needless to mention 

 that the distemper made its first appearance at Portsoy, a sea- 

 port town situated on the Boyne, in the Moray Firth, about 

 eio-ht Encjlish miles to the west of Banff and four to the east of 

 Cullen. In order, if possible, to eradicate at once such an alarm- 

 ing calamity, the justices of the peace of Banffshire resolved 

 to destroy every horned beast in Portsoy and the neighbourhood, 

 infected and not infected, and to bind themselves to see the pro- 

 prietors fully indemnified of the value of the sound cattle. This 

 was punctually executed on the 2ist and 22nd of March, and 

 the carcases, horns, skins, and all were buried about four feet 

 underground. Then the dung of all the infected byres, with 

 the upper part of the floors, were also buried, and the byres 

 were thoroughly fumigated with tar and brimstone. The justices 

 at the same time appointed all the cattle, within two English 

 miles round Portsoy, to be daily visited by four of the most 

 respectable farmers in the neighbourhood, who were ordered to 

 make a report every day of the state of all the cattle within the 

 circle of their visitation. Orders were likewise issued to all the 

 Earl of Findlater's fishers on this part of the coast, prohibiting 

 them, in the strongest terms, from assisting, directly or indirectly, 

 to land any goods in a clandestine manner from any ship which 



