XVI. PLAGUE-STRUCK ANIMALS 



EVIDENCE of the intensity and virulence of the late 

 plague in Bombay is given by the curious accounts 

 telegraphed to this country of the deaths of animals 

 from the pestilence. At one period it was reported 

 that the pigeons were dying of plague. Later the rats 

 were said to have been plague-stricken, and to be dying 

 in thousands in the native town, and there was strong 

 evidence that they not only suffered from plague, but 

 spread the infection. 



If those who were fighting the plague had time to 

 attend to anything but the work of saving human life, 

 we may expect more curious information on this point ; 

 for there is evidence that when the plague was at its 

 very worst in Florence, causing the death of sixty 

 thousand persons, the pestilence acquired some kind of 

 cumulative energy by which it went on from man to 

 animals, and at last involved the latter in common 

 destruction with their masters. As it advanced, * not 

 only men but animals fell sick and shortly expired, if 



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