History 0/ Animal Plagues. 543 



developed among cats during the yellow fever, and that it had fol- 

 lowed a route similar to that pursued by the distemper in dogs in 

 1 761. Tiie descriptions given by the various observers are very 

 much alike, especially those of Brera and Biuiiva. The latter says, 

 ' Citizen Dumas, professor of medicine at Montpellier, has rightly 

 said that the symptoms of the disease are dullness, loathing, 

 debilitv, rigiditv of the members, drowsiness, frequent yawn- 

 ing, alteration of the voice, and trembling of the head and ex- 

 tremities. We mav observe that in the succession and the 

 nature of the symptoms there are great differences. Here are the 

 results of our experiences in this matter. A few davs after the 

 animal has imbibed the contagious principle, it appeai^s to be un- 

 easy and unwell ; it loses its vivacity and nimbleness, manifests 

 no desire to seek for food, its winning graces are gone, and so is 

 its courage. In proportion as the disease advances it becomes 

 timid, melancholy, restless, and feeble; it evades its master, and 

 drags itself along with slowness and difficulty ; it withdraws to 

 the most secret places in the house, and neither eats nor drinks 

 with its accustomed avidity; its claws are less active and move- 

 able ; the Valeriana, manim, and the ncpeta catarla no longer 

 excite it. Quickly the feebleness and the stupidity augment, 

 and the creature becomes sleepy ; it can scarcely maintain itself 

 on its feet, the tail is drooping, the head bent down, and the 

 neck looks as if lonofer than usual ; the ears hano; flaccid and 

 are cold, the eye is diminished in size, sunken, and tearful, while 

 the pupil is narrowly contracted ; the tongue is dry, and covered 

 with a vellow mucus; the mouth dribbles forth a frothy saliva 

 of a whitish tint deepening down to green. 



' In the commencement of the disease there are rarely any 

 faeces passed ; the respiration is laboured and very short, the 

 pulse small, quick, and frecjuent; the heat of the skin is very 

 intense. The animal becomes insensible to the voices of those 

 who tend it. The belly becomes tympanitic; there are frecjuent 

 tremblings and violent convulsions. An universal cold ensues, and 

 the sick beast makes ineffectual efforts toxomit. Citizen Tuffet 

 has nevertheless remarked that in tln' prison at Stapleton, near 

 Brist(»l, England, in the nimitli " gtrniinal " of the \ear 7 

 (March, 1799), of twenty cats which were in that prison eight 



