37° History of Animal Plagues. 



mouth was put, twice a-day, a masticator {mnst/cadour), composed 

 of salt, peppercorns, and a little garlic and honey. The ears 

 and nose were rubbed many times a day with aromatic vinegar. 

 The stables were fumigated with burning junipers, sage leaves, 

 and rosemary and absinthe. The nourishment was light ; a few 

 herbs, bran, or barley, or rye meal were given in very small 

 quantities. 



Sauvages, a celebrated physician of Montpellier, is the next 

 authority who has written on the disease, as he saw it in Lan- 

 guedoc.^ The pest having been carried by Forez and Dauphine 

 into Velay and Vivarais, the Archbishop of Narbonne, fearing 

 lest it should spread to mankind, sent Sauvages to inquire into 

 its nature, and to suggest means for preventing or curing it. 

 His description is as follows: — The syn)ptoms were nausea, loss 

 of appetite, and no desire to drink. Some of the cattle about 

 the third day refused water, or drank very little. There was an 

 extreme degree of uneasiness or heaviness, which made the 

 affected beasts hang their heads and look troubled. But on the 

 third day they wandered about here and there, as if to get out of 

 their stables, and seemed pleased when allowed to go at large. 

 When they were prostrated by the malady, they lay down from 

 lassitude, and often got up again. The cow-men said that this 

 disease made the cattle imbecile. Nearly all of them had shiver- 

 ings over the body, but especially at the flanks and thighs. 

 The hair was upright from the head to the croup. The roots of 

 the horns were cold, but the rest of the body was of a natural 

 temperature. The eyes were tearful, and at last purulent, and 

 the effusion from them traced a furrow over the skin, from the 

 eyes to the nose. There were worms between the eyes and the 

 eyelids, but the cow-herds assured him that these had been ob- 

 served long before the disease appeared. The nose was purulent, 

 and as if suffering from glanders, the discharge being often 

 mixed with blood. This was supposed to come from the mucous 

 glands; the saliva was abundant, and streaming to the ground; 

 the tongue whitish, and without pustules. The stench from the 

 stomach was insupportable when the animals breathed. The 



1 Af. de Sauvages. Memoire sur la Maladie Epid. des Boeufs du Vivarais. 

 Montpellier, 20 Decembre, 1746, 



