History of Animal Plagues. 479 



During this unhappy period for the French afjricultural 

 community, amongst all the precautions and instructions pub- 

 lished, nothing was more spoken of or appreciated than the cir- 

 cular of De Brienne, Archbishop of Toulouse, which was 

 addressed to the clergy of his diocese. This enlightened and 

 worthy man clearly perceived the great necessity for keeping the 

 cowhouses in proper order, and that preventing all communica- 

 tion between the healthy and diseased animals was the first duty 

 to be attended to ; — a duty which did not interfere with prayers, 

 and even became an act of piety, agreeable, as he thought, to the 

 Creator; he insisted chiefly on this measure, and on the danger 

 of pilgrimages and assemblies. These were most important 

 points to enlighten the peasantry on. 



' Alitur vltium, vivitque tegendo 

 Dum medicas adhibere manus ad vulncra pastor 

 Abnegat et meliora Deos sedet omina poscens.' 



This truth is applicable to all time, to all countries, and to 

 all religions. 



It is somewhat remarkable, that, during so many invasions of 

 'Cattle Plague^ over nearly the whole of Europe during this cen- 

 turv, Spain should have escaped a visitation of the dire scourge. 

 This exemption may be readily accounted for, however, if we 

 remember that Spain has never been a cattle-importing country, 

 and that her commercial transactions in this respect have been 

 confined to cxportations. Its distance from the usual sources of 

 animal contagions, the very efficient police that has been main- 

 tained to prevent their introduction, its geographical position, 

 and its natural salubrity, appear to have insured that kingdom 

 against the destructive plagues which harass other countries. 

 But the appearance of the pest in the south-west of France was 

 a grave danger for Spain. 



Within a month after the contagion had been carried by the 

 raw hides to Bayonne, which lies near the Pyrenees, and not far 

 from the jealously-guarded border land, it by some means got 

 carried across the Spanish frontier to St Sebastian, and from 

 thence spread rapidly over a wide surface, causing sad losses. 



