History of Animal Plagues. 447 



and in all probability the bovine contagions pleuro-pnenmonia. 

 Snch an authority needs no apology for being quoted here, 

 especially as his preventive measures are worthy of notice^ and 

 would have saved this country a great loss had they been 

 adopted in recent days. 



T. 



'The first thing necessary to know is the nature of the 

 disease. This knowledge is not easily acquired^ for often it 

 does not manifest itself by any perceptible symptoms for a 

 long enough period. The veritable cause of death is the work 

 of nothing but corruption^ which often affects the intestines; 

 — corruption which is the consequence, and not the cause of the 

 disease. It is necessary to attribute, without doubt, to the diffi- 

 culty of recognizing this disease, the great ravages which it has 

 made amongst the cattle of the most enlightened nations, before 

 thev knew its terrible character or the means to prevent its pro- 

 gress. In a general way, it is described as manifesting itself by 

 a violent fever, by shiverino;s, bv staring of the coat, by loss of 

 rumination; but all these symptoms do not appear until the 

 malady has already made deadly advances in the interior of the 

 animal. We are told that, for a certainty, a beast taken out of 

 an infected stable and transported to a perfectly healthy atmo- 

 sphere, does not become sick until a month after it has been 

 removed from the diseased locality, and that it perishes from the 

 veritable contagion which, without doubt, had been concealed 

 durino- the whole of this month in the bodv of the animal. It 

 is also a fact that the diseased cattle jump about for some weeks 

 with vivacity; that they give their usual quantity of milk; that 

 they eat their forage with avidity ; that they work .in harness, 

 and yet that they carry death in their intestines. The only 

 sign of pneumonia ("pulmonic^') which is to be noticed from 

 the commencement, is a slio-ht coucrh, which affects the animal 

 notwithstanding all the a])parent signs of good health. It is 

 not for some days or weeks after the beast has become infected 

 that fever shows itself bv shivering and erect hair. The cough 

 now augments, the animal moans, its strength diminishes, it 

 cannot stand, and lies very often; it has a dilliculty in breath- 



