History of Anhnal Plagues. 429 



a disease amongst cattle^ which consisted in vesicles about the 

 tongue, and which left raw places; it was so mild, that it easily 

 gave w;iv to simple remedies.'^ 



A.D. 1768. In this year the seasons were very irregular, and 

 damaged the crops very much. Swarms of caterpillars made 

 their appearance in America,in Northampton, and Massachusetts, 

 and destroyed all herba2:e. The summer was hot and rainy, and 

 disease prevailed in that part of the world amongst the human 

 species. Hydrophobia was alarmingly frequent; in Boston and 

 other places, at the same time, ' horses were generally affected 

 with a disorder of the head and throat, which proved fatal to 

 many, and much injured the serviceableness of those that sur- 

 vived.''- In this and the two followino- years, the Cattle Plao-ue 

 prevailed in Lower Austria, coincidently with anthrax ; ^ it was 

 very severe in Brandenburg and other provinces of Prussia. 



A.D. 1769. The year was rainy, and a comet was seen. The' 

 harvest was indifferent, the corn and wheat being much de- 

 teriorated. Those diseases which, in mankind, could be attributed 

 to the use of unwholesome bread, were frequent. In the month 

 of January, a prodigious and unheard-of quantity of fish was 

 taken in the Baltic.' There was an epizooty amongst fowls at 

 Genoa.^ Over a wide extent of the North of France, an epizooty 

 was doing much injury to cows and horses. It was named in 

 Franche-Comte Min-le. In Hainault and Champagne it was 

 particularly noticed. At Avesnes, it first broke out amongst the 

 horses of two rea;iments of dra2;oons stationed there — those of 

 Autichamp and Rochefoucault; and from thence it extended 

 amoncrst the cattle in the Election of Joinville. Couo-h, hioh 

 fever, and prostration were the first symptoms; after these ap- 

 peared nausea, suspension of rumination (if in cattle), the 

 breath fetid, the mouth hot and dry, discharge by the nostrils of 

 thick, foul-smelling matters; but a continuous cough, feebleness, 

 great difiiculty in breathing, redness of the eyes, dryness of the 



* Bottani. Op. cit., vol. vii. \>. 75- 



2 Tufts. Memoirs of the American Academy, vol. i. 

 •^ Adami. Gcscliichte dcr Viehscuclien, p. 74. 



* Crcplin. Eckstrcim fische von Morko, p. 35. 



^ Fraiuk. Syst. de Med. VoXu., vol. vii. p. 150. 



