History of Animal Plagues. 413 



disease was very destructive in the Vallev Canionica, in Italy, 

 and in the month of April it manifested itself in Istria.^ In 

 Sweden and Denmark cattle and horses were attacked by an 

 epizootv, which was erroneously supposed to be the Cattle Plague, 

 but which Heusinger thinks was probably an influenza, com- 

 plicated with an aphthous affection. It was remarkable for 

 the formation of depots of unhealthy matter at the two last 

 articulations of the tail. The Royal Agricultural Society of 

 Paris was furnished with an account of it by one of its members 

 at the time, and from this the following extracts are made : 

 ' The contagion spread with great rapidity. The youngest, 

 most robust, and best-conditioned animals were soonest seized, 

 and died most promptly. It was remarked that, in the majority 

 of cases, a cough was the first symptom of the disease. The 

 eyes became dull, watery, and muco-purulent, and tears flowed 

 from them. In one or two days after the first symptoms, the 

 mdk, in cows, began to fail ; this was one of the surest indications 

 that the animals were attacked by the disease. At the com- 

 mencement, the beast looked cold, and it shivered in something 

 the same way as a human being at the onset of a fever. A high 

 temperature was soon perceptible, which continued for many 

 days ; it was most apparent about the neck, and by the increased 

 beats of the pulse. The appetite became suppressed, but the 

 animals drank willingly so long as the inflammation did not 

 prevent their swallowing fluids. A spumy saliva, accompanied 

 by an insupportable odour, flowed from the mouth and nostrils ; 

 in many the teeth became loose; constipation was not uncom- 

 mon, but usually there was diarrhoea from the commencement, 

 the excrement beino- like water. Towards the termination ot 

 the malady, the two last articulations of the tail became gan- 

 grenous and softened ; and if the skin covering them was re- 

 moved or punctured, a fetid purulent fluid escaped. The gan- 

 grene extended upwards, step by step, until it reached the horns, 

 which then became cold ; when it got as far as the ears and 

 the nostrils, which usually occurred about the sixth or seventh 

 day, the animal died. The blood abstracted during life was of a 

 bright red colour, and soon exhibited a high inflammatory state; 

 1 Bottani. Op. cit., vol. vii. p. 68. 



