Histojy of Animal Plagues. 389 



distant effects of which were perceived five thousand miles 

 awav. In December other shocks were felt, and in the follow- 

 ing January these were repeated.^ From 1754 to 1757 locusts 

 swarmed in Portugal and Spain. There appears to have been 

 an epizooty among horses in Austria. 'A plague here, in 

 Austria, amongst horses, but particularly at Vienna, increased 

 during this year. It was a kind of suffocative catarrh and in- 

 flammation of the lungs, and killed a prodigious number of 

 horses.' ' In this and the following year, a cattle epizooty 

 was prevailing in Croatia and Krain.^ From the month of 

 May untd the month of September ^ekzema epizootica,' or 

 aphthous fever, was present amongst all the domestic animals 

 in Franconia. ' For several months — July, August, and Sep- 

 tember — an epizooty raged among the cattle in Bamberg, Nu- 

 remburg, and their neighbourhoods. To all appearance it was 

 not infectious. The exciting causes appeared to be general, 

 each animal being attacked independently. This malady not 

 only affected horned cattle, but also horses, swine, and sheep. 

 This was specially remarkable : the feet of the affected animals 

 became swollen, and the hoofs sloughed off". The feathered 

 tribe was not free from this malady ; the turkeys had their feet 

 so diseased that they could not walk ; they were obliged to crawl 

 on the backs of their legs. By the use of soothing remedies, 

 the feet which were before deformed and sore, so far recovered 

 that these creatures began to walk ; they regained the flesh which 

 they had lost while so crippled, notwithstanding their feeding 

 with undiminished appetites.'"* There is another description of 

 this disease. 'The first marked symptom in the affected beast 

 was a lameness or halting in the fore or hind feet, and on ex- 

 amining these the hoofs were, so to speak, under-run by matter, 

 ulcerated, hot, and swollen. The same appearances were ob- 

 served in the mouth, both sides being covered with vesicles 

 which became confluent, and left them swollen and ulcerated. 

 The tongue was covered with what seemed to be a large blister. 

 Besides these symptoms, there was marked internal fever, a great 



' Plenciz. De Terra; Motu. Vienna, 1762. 



* Ibid. 0pp. Phys. Med., vol. i. p. 15. De Contagio ad finem vcrt^cnte. 



"• Bottani. Op. cit., vol. vii. pp. 8, 9. * Frankisciic Sammlungcn, vol. i. p. 349. 



