TRANSLATIONS FROM CONTINENTAL JOURNALS. 177 
short time previously. If not, where did he get them ? Cer¬ 
tainly not from a cow, for there was none; and it was not 
from variola, for it did not prevail at the time. And, on the 
other hand, the pustules were in every case confined to the 
punctures in the ulterior inoculations. Might he have de¬ 
signedly caused himself to be inoculated on his hands, to dis¬ 
concert science and mystif}'' vaccinators ? Of all suppositions 
this is the most unlikely. It is nevertheless to be regretted 
that the horse was not kept in view, and that there was no 
one found to reproduce artificially, and at his leisure, that 
which had occurred, says art, by accident. Notwithstanding, 
what is incomplete in this observation has its value. In all 
human affairs there is an ensemble of presumption which is 
nearly equivalent to certainty. Moreover, this is not an 
isolated fact; a similar one has occurred near Toulouse, with 
this exception, that it is better attested and more complete. 
In the spring of 1860, suddenly, at Uieumes, near Toulouse, 
an epizootic broke out amongst horses. In less than three 
weeks there were above 100 sick. Nobody at the time could 
have foreseen this; everything was as usual: tlie only re¬ 
markable fact was that the smallpox prevailed in the district, 
which seemed to indicate a disposition to eruptive fever. M. 
Sarrans, veterinary surgeon, saw and described this disease. 
Its debut was by a general state of fever, though very slight, 
but which persisted until the appearance of the local symp¬ 
toms ; the principal of these consisted in a swelling of the 
hocks, which were red and painful, and attended with lame¬ 
ness. This swelling seemed to be formed by a number of 
little pustules, closely pressed together. This was the first 
period, and lasted from three to five days. The second period 
announced itself by a purulent discharge in the bend of the 
fetlock, which lasted about eight days; and in proportion as the 
discharge continued, the swelling decreased. Finally, the pus¬ 
tules desiccated about the fifteenth day, and large scabs came 
away with the hair, leaving cicatrices more or less marked, 
according to the exuberance of the eruption. It is worthy of 
remark that the eruption was not confined to the fetlocks; 
there was some here and there on the lips, the vulva, &c. 
At the first announcement of this epizootic amongst the 
horses a report soon spread that at no great distance some 
cows were affected with cow-pox, and it went so far as to state 
the farms on which it might be found. M. Sarrans went to 
them, and after a careful examination he declared it was no¬ 
thing of the kind. According to Sarrans, who examined 
more than 100 horses, only two had caught the malady by 
external influences; all the others caught it by contagion, in 
XXXVI. 
