ACAKUS SCABIKI. 
305 
We have hitherto confined our attention to cases of scabies com- 
municated from the horse to man; but are horses the only animals 
capable of communicating it ] The following facts will answer. 
M. Biett* relates that, in 1827, ten employes of the Musee 
d’Histoire Naturel were admitted into St. Louis, very severely af- 
fected with itch, which they had contracted from some camels they 
tended that had recently arrived from Africa; he likewise men- 
tions another case of a child, not quite four years of age, who had 
evidently contracted the disease from a dog which he was con- 
stantly caressing. M. Fournier, in the article “Gale,” of the Diet, 
des Sciences Medicales, and M. Rayer, in his work on cutaneous 
diseases, both refer to a case of scabies, which was produced in one 
of the gardiens of the Jardin des Plantes, who was charged with 
preserving the skin of a phaseolome, that had been accidentally 
killed by the elephant while labouring under mange. Sauvages t 
speaks of a Scabies canina, and S. felina; and after describing the 
symptoms of the latter, which were observed in an epidemic that 
prevailed among cats, observes, “Morbus contagiosus erat; inte- 
rea qui seorsim custodiebantur ab hoc immunes non erant.” Dr. 
Mason Goodf, in his Study of Medicine, has recognized a variety 
of scabies, contracted from animals; he names it S. exotica, and 
thus characterizes it: — “Eruption, chiefly of rank, numerous pus- 
tules, with a hard inflamed base, rendering the skin rough and 
brownish; itching extreme; abrasion unlimited, from excessive 
scratching. Produced by handling mangy animals §.” Bateman, 
too, although he has not classed it in his Synopsis as a distinct 
species, yet, in his Delineations of Cutaneous Diseases], gives a 
drawing of what he calls S. porcina, from the circumstance of the 
man whose case it was intended to illustrate having contracted it 
from a mangy hog. These are but a few of the cases upon record; 
but I think they are sufficient to give an affirmative answer to the 
question we set out with, viz. Can a mangy animal communicate 
scabies to the human subject] It must not be denied, however, that 
several writers have contended for the impossibility of the trans- 
mission we have been speaking of. “ Rayer,” says that skilful ve- 
terinarian, Leblanc, “ shewed MM. Sabatier, Littre, and himself, se- 
veral itchy dogs, calling their attention to the fact, that the man 
* Diet, de Medecine, art. Gale. f Nosol. Method. J Vol. v, p. 648. 
§ Professor Hertwig states, that the most important difference between this 
variety and the ordinary itch consists in the former spreading over the face 
and head, which is not the case with the latter. It is also generally agreed 
to be more severe ; and, if Chabert is to be relied on, this holds good with 
regard to the itch that is produced in an animal from one of a different genus; 
he says, when the horse and sheep contract it from the dog, it is exceedingly 
obstinate, and often produces terrible effects. 
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