39^ History of Animal Plagues. 



than twenty-four hours. The result of numerous autopsies 

 showed that in those which had been diseased in the breast and 

 which had died^ the greatest changes were found in the chest; 

 that in those which during Hfe had been affected on the exterior 

 of the abdomen, about the generative organs, or inside the thighs, 

 the interior of the abdomen exhibited these alterations more par- 

 ticularly ; while in those animals which had succumbed, but in 

 which no tumours had been visible, engorgements and effusions 

 in different cavities were discovered. The author of this report 

 very sensibly draws a distinction between this epizooty and the 

 Cattle Plague. The majority of the creatures affected by this 

 malady did not cease eating or drinking until they were very 

 ill, or nearly dead; usually there was no discharge from the mouth 

 or nostrils, and these parts were in their natural condition; there 

 was no diarrhoea nor dysentery ; no fever was perceptible until the 

 malady was far advanced and death near; sometimes the urine 

 was high-coloured and bloody. 



The causes of the epizooty were supposed to be these : The 

 winter of 1756 was boisterous and long; the spring of 1757 was 

 very wet; and when the disease showed itself in the summer, the 

 heat had been sudden and excessive, the water in the ponds warm, 

 muddy, and corrupted. It manifested itself in the parishes 

 nearest to the forest of Crecy; this forest is very marshy and full 

 of insects. Saddle-horses were less exposed to attack than others. 

 The hay and oats of 1756 were bad. The disease first showed 

 itself among the animals depastured among the ponds, marshes, 

 and stagnant waters in the forest, which was regarded as the 

 primitive source of the pest. The real or exciting cause, how- 

 ever, was not so easily made out. 



The remedial measures adopted do not offer anything worthy 

 of notice. The preservative ones were those applicable to a 

 contagious disease. 



The same kind of maladv which had reigned in Franconia the 

 preceding year had disappeared very suddenly in this; neverthe- 

 less, this class of epizootics appears to have been very frequent 

 during the year. Esthonia and Livonia were so visited. ' In the 

 middle of July, intelligence was received from the circle of Dorpat 

 that there, as well as in the circle of Revel, a virulent disease 



