Histoiy of Anbnal Plagues. 443 



a want of natural heat will be apparent; wherever this is found, 

 there is no room to doubt of the disorder being present; yet it 

 is seldom suspected without a particular acquaintance with other 

 symptoms that commonly attend this distemper^ and for want of 

 knowing these, the farmer has often lost his cattle, not even 

 suspecting the evil. The symptoms are — a dulness in the coun- 

 tenance of the beast, a sluggishness in moving, a heaviness of 

 the eyes, a failure of appetite, an inclination to lie down, an 

 aversion to rise, and, when accompanied by an inflammation of 

 the brain, a giddiness and frequent tossing of the head; besides 

 these, the limbs are sometimes affected with stifUhess like a rheu- 

 matism, and in cows the milk often fails, the udder is hard, 

 and in almost all cases there is a sudden wasting of the flesh. 

 (Neat cattle are subject to a disorder commonly called the ta'il- 

 sickness, w'hich is a wasting of the bony substance of the tail, 

 and if not cut off or dilated as far as the defect reaches, often 

 proves fiital. It frequently accompanies the horn distemper.) 

 From the number of cows seized with this distemper in the space 

 of a fortnight, a suspicion arose that the distemper w'as infec- 

 tious; time, however, has shown that it is not so, at least, in any 

 great degree, for it frequently happens, that among many cattle 

 herding together, one of them shall have the distemper and the 

 others remain in perfect health.'^ The disease was cured by 

 boring a hole in the substance of the horn, opening its cavity, 

 and allowing the accumulated matter to escape. This malady 

 resembles to some extent a disease which is frequent amongst 

 draught oxen in France, where it is called Catarrhe des Comes, but 

 its usual cause is an injury. In this epizooty it appears to have 

 had no such origin, and I am unable to find another instance of 

 this peculiar malady occurring in a general manner in any 

 country. 



After the pestilence in man at Moscow and in "VVallachia, the 

 ' distemper ' of dogs is noticed for the first time in these countries. 

 It is described by Orraeus: ' I am inclined to believe that it is not 

 incongruous to suppose that the plague amongst hunting dogs, 



1 Cotlo?t Tufts. Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. 

 Boston, 1785. Vol. i. p. 529. 



