History of Animal Plag7ics. 433 



ance in Grenada, West Indies, having been carried thence by 

 smuc^Hino" vessels from Martinico.^ An eruption of Vesuvius. 

 The harvest was very bad, the crops being damaged by the heavy 

 rains which fell during the year. Famine was severe in Germany, 

 Poland, and Russia, and disease of a very fatal character ap- 

 peared in mankind in Bohemia and Constantinople. Ergotism 

 was very prevalent; it had commenced in the past year, was more 

 severe in this, and yet more so in 177 1-3. At the same time, in 

 many countries, the lower animals were suffering from disease. 

 Weikard notices this circumstance, as it presented itself to him in 

 Germany. 'About the end of the year 1770, horses, and especially 

 those kept in stables, were dreadfully afflicted with a certain putrid 

 disease. This fatal sickness amongst them continued throughout 

 nearly the whole year, and killed fifty of our very best. The putrid 

 epidemy {epidemia putrida) was then unknown to us, but we 

 gradually became acquainted with its character. At first we 

 learned its nature by the morbid appearances exhibited after death; 

 for the most part the lungs were found gangrenous and corrupt, 

 evidently distinguishing it as a peripneumonic disease. It was 

 erroneously believed that it could be cured only by bleeding and 

 refrigerant remedies. It was also observed that a quantity of 

 fluid and mucus filled the mouth of the sick, that the abdomen 

 was swollen and tense, and the faces very foul and more fluid 

 than usual. Post-mortem examinations of the intestines dis- 

 covered them to be inflated, and a yellow bilious matter abound- 

 ing m them, and from this we thought it bore at the same 

 time some resemblance to bilious fever. The happy realiz- 

 ation of a method of certain cure favoured this oj)inion, for it 

 was found that by the use of purgatives and antiputrescent 

 remedies many could be saved. About the year 1771, also, the 

 same thing happened to wild creatures, for they were attacked, 

 as I believe, with an identical disease. In comparison of all the 

 others their destruction was noted as being more severe in the 

 most spacious menageries of our Prince. 



'Some years, too, were fatal to the sheep; nor did birds 

 escape, for geese, as I remember, were killed by this malady, 



* B. Edwards. History of llie West Indies, vol. i. p. 397. 



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