41 o History of Animal Plagues. 



were distinguished. The first^ attacking the throat, was accom- 

 panied with a very bad cough and fever; after coughing, the 

 animals vomited a quantity of white mucus by the mouth, and 

 purulent matter was discharged from the nostrils. The second 

 was the worst and most dangerous : the dogs were seized with a 

 violent fever; their heads seemed so heavy that they could 

 scarcely carry them ; they all at once lost their ability to move, 

 and they were unable to raise themselves on their straw ; they 

 discharcred much sanious matter from their nostrils, and had 

 convulsions similar to those of epilepsy. They seized and bit 

 their straw as if they had been mad, and the moment after they 

 fell into a lethargy ; convulsions followed, and at last they died 

 between the alternating attacks of convulsions and prostration. 

 Some were so quickly and violently seized, that they perished be- 

 tween the morning and the evening without its having been pos- 

 sible to administer to them either nourishment or medicine. Of 

 the small number of those which were cured some became blind, 

 the others were paralyzed in their hinder extremities ; some reeled 

 as if intoxicated, and, with the exception of a very small pro- 

 portion, these have remained feeble in their limbs How 



is it possible to find remedies for a malady which is unknown, 



and of which we have never heard speak? It is only when the 



dead animals are opened that it has been remarked that the 



blood is altered and the lungs full of pus. This contagion was 



very deadly. For six weeks it abated, then for a year it raged 



severely. It destroyed entire packs of hounds. In the kennels 



of the King more than 300 dogs, old and young, perished. Out 



of 120, which formed a small pack, one day only 32 could 



be mustered for the hunt; all the others were dead or sick. 



The huntsmen flattered themselves that in buying dogs from all 



quarters the malady would not reappear, yet it manifested itself 



at three different times. Only 15 dogs were lost at each of 



these attacks. A year after there was another visitation, which 



killed more than 60 hounds of the large pack; and out of 140 on 



the list, only two were unaffected. Very many of those which 



did not die were useless for hunting, and at the most only about 



70 were saved. This last attack did not last long, but it was so 



severe, that in less than three days 30 dogs were lost. The 



