41 8 History of Animal Plagues. 



It manifested itself by a small white blister above or below the 

 tonffue, and sometimes, thouo;h rarelv, both above and below it ; 

 the progress of the disease was so rapid that in about twelve hours 

 the little vesicle or tumour became as large as a man's hand and 

 assumed a violet colour ; notwithstanding this^ the stricken 

 animals did not lose their appetite^ but the gangrenous eschar was 

 not long in eating through the tongue^ which fell oft\vhen remedial 



measures were not adopted The malady has run through 



all the villages one after another^ and nearly all the beasts in a 

 village have been attacked at one time/ ^ 



Dr Nicolau gives a most excellent^ but lengthy, description of 

 the outbreak in Brouageois. The parishes in which it exerted 

 its greatest furv were situated in the neighbourhood of the 

 marshes^ which were often covered by the waters of the sea, 

 introduced by a canal. In summer, when these marshes are 

 crowded with flocks and herds, the putrid exhalations engen- 

 dered by the heat of the sun give rise to intermittent and putrid 

 fevers among the human inhabitants of the villages. The year 

 1763 had been very rainy, and there was abundant pasturage; 

 but the hay was spoiled by the wet. Sheep, horses, and even 

 pigs were equally attacked, and other domestic animals were 

 not exempt : — the dogs, for example, which were nourished on 

 the flesh of the dead cattle suffered, and in the hamlet of St 

 Symphorien fowls died. In the month of May, the cattle had a 

 disease of the tongue, which, however, did not make much pro- 

 Q-ress. In June and Julv, the anthracoid disease broke out amoncr 

 the sheep, which died nearly as soon as they were attacked. The 

 oxen and the mares suflfered most in Julv, and the maladv lasted 

 until September. The earliest symptoms were a refusal of all 

 food; dulness ; drooping head, cold and hanging ears; horripil- 

 ation ; the flanks drawn up and beating quickly ; the abdomen 

 distended and tense; the muscles of the body twitching, and the 

 animal standing as if making efforts to urinate; the urine as 

 clear as water; no rumination; the evacuation of excrements 

 less frequent than that of the urine. Some hours after these first 

 symptoms set in, if tumours did not make their appearance on 

 the surface of the body, shiverings and tremblings ensued, the 

 1 Duhcunel. Mem. dcl'Acad. des Sciences, 1764. 



