History of Animal Plagues. 531 



tember, the several varieties of anthrax were frequent, and in 

 Normandy small-pox in sheep was rile.^ In Bavaria and Suabia 

 anthrax appeared in the month of June ; and in Saxony haema- 

 turia in sheep^ which was supposed to be caused bv the larvae of 

 the curcuVio pisl? In Bavaria, pleuro-pneumonia was epizootic 

 amono; cattle.^ 



Huzard describes the appearance of the same maladv, which 

 prevailed for a considerable distance around Paris in this year 

 and in 1794.^ Up to 1789, according to Lafosse, this most de- 

 structive disease had been nearly always, if not cntirelv, confined 

 to the Jura and Swiss Alps, the mountainous districts of Dau- 

 phine, the Vosges, Piedmont, and Upper Silesia. Towards the 

 end of the century, however, it is very probable that the wars 

 following the French Revolution were the cause of the extension 

 of this plague : the requirements of the various contending 

 armies necessitating droves of cattle beinff drawn from the resrions 

 where the contagion reigned enzootically; and these, attached 

 to the commissariat parks, and travelling into other countries, 

 would convey the oermsof the disease amono- hitherto untainted 

 herds. Neither the altitude, physical configuration, ge()gra])hi- 

 cal position, meteorological conditions, nor geological character 

 of a countrv, appear to have exercised any palpable influence in 

 the diffusion or vitality of the contagion; neither does the na- 

 ture of the food, plants, stabulation, or race afford exenij^tion 

 from its attacks when once introduced. As we shall see here- 

 after, tliis is one of the most wonderful maladies, in these re- 

 spects, with which we are acquainted, and its history affords a 

 most interesting study/' 



In Townson's Travels in Hungary, mention is made of an 

 epizoijtv of an anthracoid nature, which attacked the horned 

 cattle in that countrv, Servia, and the Bannat of Tcmeswar, in 

 the year 1790, This attack, acccording to Kirby and Spence, 

 was caused by a minute fly or gnat; for, concerning its true 

 genus, they tell us there is some doubt amongst entomologists — 



1 Chabert. Instructions, &c., vol. i. p. 399. 



2 I nuhmder. Op. cit., vol. i. p. 160. ^ Ibiil. p. 1 61. 

 < Wirlh. Op. cit., ]>. 300. 



* La/ossc. Traitc dc i'alhologic Veterinairc, vol. iii. p. 616. 



