782 
PANICS AMONG HORSES. 
kind, which occasioned veritable catastrophes — the second 
especially — have just occurred, the one at Saint-Yan (Saone- 
et-Loire), the other at Marcilly (Loire), at an interval of a 
few days. This is the account of the first : “ A very large 
number of cattle,” says the Journal de Sdone-et- Loire, “ were 
collected on the market-place of Saint-Yan, on the 14th of 
this month. All at once a startling commotion took place in 
the middle of the market ; the cattle, as if struck suddenly 
with vertigo, reared up in all directions, overturning in their 
frantic course more than fifty people. The brigadier of the 
gendarmerie , Humbert, and the gendarme Garric, of Paray- 
le-Monial, on duty at the fair, were also overturned, but they 
were able to get up and assist the wounded, twelve of whom 
were injured in a very grave manner. 
“ Thanks to the devotion of the authorities of Saint-Yan, 
the gendarmes, two surgeons, and some other persons, the 
disorder was suppressed, and immediate attention bestowed 
on the disabled individuals. A very strange circumstance 
connected with this occurrence was elicited. It appears that 
on the previous evening a rumour got abroad at Genelard 
that evil-disposed persons were to give certain cattle drugs 
which would make them furious, and profiting by the dis- 
order they would occasion, they could exercise their wicked 
propensities ; and indeed a watch was being maintained to 
thwart this supposed intention at the very moment when the 
occurrence took place. But no important conclusion can be 
drawn from this, and the primary cause of these redoubtable 
cattle panics is still a mystery. 
“ The second of these events took place last Tuesday at 
the market of Marcilly, near Roanne. According to the 
account an eye-witness furnished to the Courrier de Lyon , a 
veritable catastrophe, as will be seen, was the consequence of 
this vertigo of panic, which precipitated nearly two hundred 
distracted and furious cattle among the crowd of people. It 
is said that fifteen persons were killed and thirty injured ; 
but it is to be hoped that the numbers have been much 
exaggerated by fear, and that more exact reports than these 
first rumours appear to be will reduce the consequences of 
this strange and painful event to less terrible proportions.” 
Some of the ancient writers have also recorded similar 
occurrences, and sometimes they attributed them to strange 
causes. Perhaps one of the most formidable to be found in 
antique history is that which occurred in the time of St. 
Augustin. The Pagans complained bitterly of the neglect 
into which the worship of the gods of their fathers had fallen, 
and blamed Christianity as the cause of the misfortunes 
