400 
ON EPIDEMIC DISEASES. 
By giving a sketch of it as it appeared in Italy, there will he 
less occasion to dilate on the succeeding epidemics. It com- 
menced with a shivering fit, followed by unnatural heat, extreme 
thirst, difficulty of breathing, and general debility. A thick 
mucous discharge from the nose and mouth speedily succeeded, 
attended by a very unpleasant smell. There were twitchings of 
various parts of the frame ; frequent foetid and bloody ejections ; 
and Ihe appetite and rumination ceased. On the fifth day there 
was a pustular eruption in the mouth, which covered the tongue 
and pharynx ; and abscesses followed, and the bones beneath 
quickly became carious. The cattle died generally on or about 
the fifth or ninth day. 
The hair usually came partly or entirely off. If, after the fall 
of the hair, the skin became firmer, or if the disease attacked the 
legs or thighs, and there were swellings of the joints, or about 
the limbs, and which almost prevented the motion of the animal, 
he generally recovered. Cow r s that gave milk often survived, 
but their calves uniformly perished. 
On examination after death, hydatids were found in the brain 
and lungs; and it was said that they contained an infectious gas 
that could scarcely be endured. If this were the case, they were 
vesicles formed by the extravasated air in the process of decom- 
position, and not hydatids. Ulcers w ; ere found at the root of 
the tongue, and gangrene in the intestines. The third stomach 
always contained a hard, black, infectious mass, which adhered 
to the lining membrane, and could scarcely be separated from it. 
Lancisi says, that he found no medicine certainly effectual 
against this complaint, but setons and the actual cautery were 
sometimes serviceable. Rammazini fully confirms this, and says 
that the cattle in which either setons, or the cautery, or natural 
tumours and ulcerations, had produced a copious discharge of 
thick purulent and foetid matter, were the only ones that escaped*. 
The pest was soon propagated over the greater part of Italy. It 
appeared in Milan, under even a more virulent character than it 
had assumed in the Venetian States ; and when it reached the 
duchy of Ferrara, it had so fearfully acquired strength as it pro- 
ceeded, that it was the prevalent opinion among the best-informed 
persons in the duchy, that the whole species of horned cattle 
would quickly become extinct. As it travelled it selected other 
victims — horses, deer, swine, and domestic poultry of every kind, 
were attacked by it. 
As might be supposed, the most absurd ideas were entertained 
of its nature and cause. Many of the beasts that had died in 
the preceding year had not been buried deep enough, and clouds 
* Vid. Rammazini et Lancisi in loc. 
