246 
ON EPIZOOTIC DISEASES. 
they were all destroyed by the epizootic in six days. At the 
time when, in conformity with the orders of the administra- 
tion, I inspected the markets of Ville Franche, four oxen that 
had been concealed from inspection were brought to the pre- 
mises of M. Damiron. Two days afterwards, the only two cows 
that M. Damiron had previously possessed became ill, and, in 
process of time, died. M. Collet, veterinary surgeon at Savigny, 
informed me that some Hungarian cattle were turned into one of 
the fields of the Mayor. All his cattle which, on the departure 
of the others, occupied the same fields, were infected with the 
disease, and every one of them died. 
M. Tonnerieux, veterinary surgeon at Givors, attended many 
cattle that were attacked by the disease; and he affirmed that, 
generally speaking, they became ill, one after the other, in the 
order of proximity to the door in which they stood in the stable. 
After being possessed of these facts and many others, I could 
not deny that the epizootic which prevailed was “ highly con- 
tagious ” among cattle. 
Two facts proved that it was not entirely limited to cattle. A 
large dog, four years old, drank some of the milk of a cow la- 
bouring under this disease. He was soon afterwards attacked by 
a fetid dysentery which lasted eight days : he, howeyer, ulti- 
mately recovered. 
A horse ate a small bundle of hay that had been refused by 
some of the Hungarian cattle, and contaminated by their saliva. 
The horse soon exhibited symptoms of typhoid disease, and died. 
On opening him, very great gastro-intestinal inflammation pre- 
sented itself. 
No fact, however, has proved the transmission of the poison to 
the human being. I have known several veterinary surgeons 
who were w'ounded in opening cattle labouring under this disease ; 
but I have not seen or heard of any inconvenience resulting from 
it beyond that of a simple wound. 
On the other hand, I have known or heard of numerous ex- 
amples of the fatal consequence resulting from the inoculation of 
the human being by matter discharged under the inflammatory 
contagious diseases of cattle. This is not one of the least dif- 
ferences by which these diseases are distinguished from each 
other. 
It has been asked, whether it is prudent to eat the flesh of ani- 
mals that are labouring under or have died of this disease. The 
troops of the enemy, before they reached our unhappy country, 
ate with impunity the flesh of such of their cattle as were affected 
with typhus. They did so with impunity in the districts that 
were most devastated by the diseases which they introduced. 
