History of Animal Plagues. ^6^ 



was always fatal. It was remarked that all the cattle attacked 

 were fat, in good condition, and vigorous, and that the lean and 

 feeble were seldom affected. 



The examination of twelve oxen which had died proved that 

 it was an inflammatory disease, in which the digestive passages 

 were principally attacked. The omentum was found inflamed ; 

 the first and second divisions of the stomach were full of food 

 slightly moist; the third was more inflamed and distended than 

 the two first; the leaves were black and sphacelous, and between 

 them the food was found hard and dried ; the fourth division was 

 empty, contracted, and inflamed; the intestines in the same state; 

 the rectum, in some cases, contained mucus mixed with blood. 

 Tn general, all the viscera connected with the intestines par- 

 ticipated in their inflammation, particularly the gall-bladder. The 

 viscera in the thorax were scarcely altered. In the brain there 

 was congestion of the vessels; the eves were inflamed; neither 

 the integuments, the tongue, nor the mouth exhibited any 

 eruption of vesicles, pustules, or tumours; but the tail was 

 rotten, for as soon as its enveloping skin was removed, it broke 

 in many portions. 



Ens, in seeking for the cause of this outbreak, remarks that 

 the pastures in the neighbourhood had been flooded in August 

 by great quantities of rain-water from the adjoining mountains, 

 and which was charged with mud that corrupted the herbaije ; 

 besides, the pastures contained many poisonous weeds. In the 

 month of September a sharp frost suddenly set in, accompanied 

 by a blight of rust on all the plants. The cattle which had 

 passed the night in their stables were turned out in the mornings 

 hot and perspiring, and fed on the tainted herbage, which, he 

 maintained, was assuredly the cause of this very acute inflam- 

 matory epizootic fever. 



In the North of Europe, the Danish physicians gave the dis- 

 ease their serious attention. In the Memoirs of the Royal 

 Scientific Society of Copenhagen for 1746, we find the results of 

 their observations in curious, but yet interesting, details. From 

 the moment, it is recorded, tli;it an ox was attacked, it carried 

 its head low, and its horns were cold; the tongue and the palate 

 became blanched; the respiratory movements precipitous and difli- 



