History of Aninial Plagues. 467 



be useful to glance at the results of Vicq-d'Azyr^s investiga- 

 tions. The disease spread rapidly in Agenois, Condomois, 

 the country of Auch, Bordelais, Medoc, Guyenne, Gascony, 

 and elsewhere, and its ravages were particularly severe during 

 the years 1774 and 1775. Its resemblance to the malady 

 which, since 171 1, had successively decimated the cattle in Italy, 

 France, Germany, England, and other countries, was complete, 

 and the relative diflerences of climates, seasons, or temperament 

 had apparently but little influence on its character. Vicq-d'Azyr, 

 nevertheless, thought he had discovered some varieties. For 

 example, in the country of Auch, tumours were often observed 

 along the spine; in and around Boulogne the skins of the af- 

 fected cattle were covered with a kind of mange; in Condomois, 

 aphthous eruptions were sometimes manifested in the mouth ; 

 lastly, sometimes, and without any perceptible causes, the dis- 

 ease was much less diffused in some villages than in others often 

 only a league distant. The disease was nearly always beyond 

 the resources of art, and the best-devised remedies had only 

 effected a small number of cures. And these cures had not 

 been made without danger ; for Vicq-d'Azyr was a witness to 

 the fact of a calf that had been saved by careful nursing, and 

 which, after its cure, had communicated the disease to many 

 cows, which perished after it was quite well. To the dangers, 

 then, of a disease nearly always incurable, were added those of a 

 malady highly contagious, and the transmission of which it 

 was nearly always impossible to prevent. In these unhappy 

 circumstances, recourse was had to an extreme measure, in order 

 to destroy the contagion, and with it the malady. All the dis- 

 eased and suspected cattle were killed. This measure, which 

 had been proposed by Lancisi, enforced in England in 1714, 

 and in 1771 in Austrian Flanders, and had been recommended 

 in 1773 by Dufot, was carried into execution in 1774 and 1775, 

 in consequence of the recommendation of Vicq-d'Azyr and the 

 veterinary professor Bourgelat. A decree of the i8th of De- 



Epizootique, &c. Bordeaux, 1744. Avis redigc sur les Mt'moires du Directeur 

 de I'Ecole Vetcrinaire. I'au, 1744. Faur de Beaufort. Consultation sur la Ma- 

 ladic Epizootiquc qui recjnc en (juycnne. Bordeaux. Prat. Gazette de I'Agriculture. 

 February 28, 1775. Consultation de rUnivcrsite de Mcdecinc de Montpellier, 

 1775- 



