History of Animal Plagues. <)'})S 



the citizen Godcau, owner of the forges of Ablon, the manager 

 having lost some cows, was advised, in order to stop the malady, 

 to burv one in the cowshed. The carcase was soon interred, 

 but the two animals which stood nearest to the spot were quickly 

 affected. I could not disinfect this stable until the little soil 

 that covered the dead beast was removed and replaced by a large 

 quantity of lime ; then a small hillock of earth was raised over 

 it, in order to prevent the escape of the putrid emanations. A 

 farmer of Saint-Benoit-du-Sault, district of Argenton, after hav- 

 mg lost all his cattle from the malady, had them replaced by others 

 which he had brought from an estate twenty leagues off, where 

 the disease had not been seen. But about fifteen days after their 

 occupation of the same cowshed these also were attacked, and 

 owed their preservation to my assistance. 



' Nothing contributes so much to the dissemination of these 

 kinds of maladies as the shallow pits in which the dead 

 bodies are interred. Dogs, wolves, and bears disinter them, and 

 in doing so nearly always perish ; but, frequently, not until after 

 they have communicated the malady to other animals, and have 

 sometimes carried the virus to very great distances. I have seen 

 two bears and a wolf perish in one day from eating the flesh of 

 a horse that had died of the malady. After havins; been assured 

 that the flesh of an ox that had died from this affection had 

 caused the death of several dogs, I was anxious to know if the 

 cooked flesh would possess this deleterious property ; the dog to 

 which I gave it was not affected. This experiment, however, 

 does not suffice to allay apprehension with regard to the danger 

 of eating the flesh of diseased cattle; for I have also observed, 

 though rarely, that dogs could eat the raw flesh of animals that 



died from anthrax with impunity I have seen a horse 



attacked with a carbuncular tumour on the haunch some hours 

 after having carried on its crouj) the fresh hide of a diseased 

 beast enveloped in a sack.' ^ 



In Bavaria, anthrax was dreadfully fatal among horses and 



• F. II. Gilbert. Rcclierchcs sur les Causes dcs Maladies Cliarbonncuses dans 

 es Animaux, &c. Paris, 1795. ^ruiti Vii'm Gilbert and LacroLx. liistrucUon sur les 

 Moyeii-s do gucrir la Maladie cjuc Regne bur les Besliaux dans Ics Depart, de la 

 Ilaulc Rhine. Vienne, 1793. 



