540 History of Animal Plagues. 



tive were the gases given out from the lake Ouilotoa, that whole 

 herds of cattle on its shores were killed, ' ^ In Saxony^ during this 

 and the next year, small-pox was very fatal in sheep, and inocu- 

 lation was attempted by Fink.^ Rabies canina was epizootic iu 

 Rhode Island, North America.^ In the kingdom of Wurtem- 

 berg anthrax was very severe, and people were frequently affected 

 by transmission of the poison.* 



In Bavaria, according to Wirth, there appeared an epizooty 

 among the horses ; it was a putrid disease, accompanied by 

 malignant quinsy and nervous fever; all the thoracic organs 

 were involved.^ It was probably the malady alluded to in 1795. 

 An extraordinary epizooty among cats, remarkable not only 

 for its prevalence in many countries, but also for the peculiarity of 

 its origin and spread, is recorded for this year. It appears to 

 have been developed in America about the same time as the 

 epidemic yellow fever of the preceding year. Such may be 

 inferred from Erdmann's account of it." 



' Shortly before the commencement of the yellow fever in 

 1798, there was a great disease among the rats and cats, from 

 which many hundreds died. This was also the case here in 

 Philadelphia before the breaking out of the yellow fever in the 

 past year 1797, and in 1796 at New York. Asfaras we can learn, 

 the symptoms of this disease have not been sufficiently observed. 

 The animal, however, usually lost its appetite, but drank a 

 great deal, slept much, looked very ill, and many began to 

 grow emaciated. Some died in a kind of stupor ; others, on the 

 contrary, towards the termination of the disease, became mad, 

 vomited, and foamed at the mouth. Also among the dogs, 

 at the beginning of the yellow fever, there was a sickness of 

 which many died. This disease among the domestic animals has 

 often been observed to precede the breaking out of yellow fever, 

 and now it is looked upon by many as a certain forerunner of 



^ Humboldt. Voyages, p. 317. 



2 Fmk. Beschreibung der Pockenkrankheit, p. 22. 



3 New York Medical Repository. * Wirth. Op. cit., p. 86. 

 ^ Ibid. p. 136. 



" With regard to the commencement of this feline epizooty, however, we must 

 not overlook Blumenbach's mention of a somewhat analogous, if not identical, 

 malady in Holland, in the middle of 1796. 



