166 
ON EPIZOOTIC DISEASES 
to mix together equal parts of hyssop and common salt, and rub 
the lips well with it, applying afterwards an ointment composed 
of equal parts of pitch and hogs’ lard. 
From this period to the middle of the fourth century, although 
there are slight accounts of occasional pestilence, there is nothing 
of sufficient importance to detain us. Absyrthus, a veterinary 
surgeon in the army of the Emperor Constantine, wrote a work 
on the diseases of horses in the year 370. It is valuable on ac- 
count of the age in which it was written, but is unsatisfactory 
with regard to the subject on which we are now treating. 
An interesting poem was written on this pestilence by Caecilius 
Severus, in 370. This pestilence took its origin in Hungary, and 
it was at that early time observed that almost every pestilence 
that prevailed in Europe either derived its origin from Hungary, 
or was more violent and destructive there than in any other 
country. 
It was remarked in this pestilence that the cows that yielded 
milk did not die so soon as other cattle, nor so soon as their calves ; 
shewing the kindly power of nature in preserving the mother, at 
least until her little ones were gone. This observation has often 
been made both in early times and at later periods. The udder 
of the mother is a kind of emunctory, by means of which a por- 
tion at least of the poisonous matter is removed from the circula- 
tion of the animal. This is to a certain degree confirmed by the 
fact that the establishment of a seton or drain is always to a 
greater or less extent advantageous. It lessens the virulence of 
the poison, and relieves, if it does not preserve, the life of the 
mother. 
In the year 376 an epidemic raged over the greater part of 
Europe. Then the practice first commenced of applying the 
red-hot iron in the form of a cross to the forehead of the beast. 
By this means the operator was said to cure one-half of his patients 
and to save the other. This wonderful efficacy is more than 
doubtful, and yet the sudden torture of the fire might rouse the 
sinking powers of the animal, and enable him to weather the 
storm. At all events, this mystic ceremony became universal 
not only with regard to this, but many other maladies of the 
brute creation, and was sometimes extended to the human being. 
Somewhat before this period, or very shortly afterwards, and 
during the reign of the Emperor Constantine, there arose among 
the veterinary surgeons of the army a laudable desire to under- 
stand and subdue the ailments of the domesticated animals ; and 
patronised by the Emperor Valentinian lived Vegetius, Count of 
Constantinople, who did not deem a work on the veterinary art 
unworthy of him. He composed it as much at the solicitation of 
