376 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [anNO 17 18. 



the lords justices having notice of it, ordered that I should examine into the 

 truth of the report of its being contagious ; and the Lord Chancellor having 

 granted such authority as was proper to make the discovery, four justices of the 

 peace for the county of Middlesex were also appointed to make the necessary 

 examinations. 



Pursuant to those orders we went to Islington, where Mr. RatclifF had lost 

 120 cows out of 200; Mr. RufFord 62 out of 72; and Mr. Pullen 38 out of 

 87. Mr. RatclifF gave the following account of this distemper, viz. That the 

 cows first refused their food ; the next day they had huskish coughs, and voided 

 excrement like clay ; their heads swelled, and sometimes their bodies. In a 

 day or two more there was a great discharge of a mucous matter by the nose, 

 and their breaths smelled offensively. Lastly, they had a severe purging, some- 

 times bloody, which terminated in death. That some died in 3 days, and 

 others in 5 or 6, but the bulls lived 8 or 10 days. That during their whole 

 illness, they refused all manner of food, and were very hot. Several of the 

 cow-doctors agreed that it was a murrain, or rather a plague ; and all the 

 methods they had tried for a cure, had proved unsuccessful. 



Being ordered by the lords justices to deliver in writing what would be pro- 

 per to be done, I drew up, and gave them the following proposals : 



J. That all such cows as are now in the possession of Mr. RatclifF, RufFord, 

 and Pullen, be bought, killed, and burnt : or at least that the sick be burnt ; 

 and the sound kept and secured on the grounds where they now are, that such 

 of them as sicken or die of this distemper may be burnt. 



2. That the houses, in which those sick cows have stood, be washed very 

 clean, and then smoked by burning pitch, tar, and wormwood, and be kept 3 

 months at least before any other cows are put into them. 



3. That the fields where those sick cows have grazed, be kept 2 months be- 

 fore any other cows are sufFered to stand or graze there. 



4. That the persons looking after such as are ill, should have no communi- 

 cation with those that are well. 



5. That the same methods be observed if any other of the cow-keepers 

 should get this distemper among them; and that they be all summoned and told, 

 that as soon as they perceive any of their cows to refuse their meat, or have 

 any other symptoms of this distemper, that they immediately separate them 

 from their others, and give notice to such persons as the lords justices shall ap- 

 point, that they may be burnt ; and the places where they have stood or grazed 

 to be ordered as above. 



6. That the cow-keepers be required to divide their cows into small parcels, 

 not more than 10 or 12 in a field together; and that they be allowed such 



