HISTORY OF CONTAGIOUS AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES. 
557 
lowed by the appearance of epidemic diseases which attack 
both man and animals. 
In like degree can the frequent appearance and great ex¬ 
tent of epidemics of animals be attributed to the continual 
wandering of tribes, while searching for new locations, and to 
the incursions into Europe of the nomad tribes with their 
immense herds. The space of time between the sixth and 
fifteenth centuries was marked by no fewer than thirty-two 
epidemics; the greater part of which attacked domestic ani¬ 
mals in general, while only a few attacked single species. In 
a few, men and animals were alike attacked. Their • extent 
varied widely. Some embraced all Europe, while others at¬ 
tacked only a few countries. France, Germany and England 
were the most frequent sufferers, while Spain and Italy were 
seldom affected, and then only over a small area. 
We know very little concerning the nature of these epi¬ 
demics, as there are no descriptions of them extant, and as 
only the time of their disappearance and the ruin which 
followed them were recorded. They are designated, in 
general, as “ pestis ” or “ pestilentia,” and are said by the 
chroniclers to be due either to excessive rains and floods, hot 
and dry summers, failure of crops and the resulting famine, 
comets, earthquakes, or similar causes. In many cases the 
disease was, undoubtedly, cattle-plague brought into Europe 
from the East by nomadic incursions. In other cases, the 
disease was “Anthrax/' called even then “Ignis Sacer.” 
When it attacked horses (as most frequently in Italy) the pre¬ 
dominating symptoms were those of diseases of the chest. 
The first recorded epidemic, arising in South France, and 
continuing at short intervals from 581 to 590, attacked cattle 
and horses, and, at its last appearance, even deer and other 
wild animals. Gregor of Fours writes of wonderful cures 
achieved by oil from the lamps of the church of St. Martin, or 
by burning crosses fastened to the foreheads of diseased 
cattle. 
In 791 so great a plague broke out among the horses in 
the army of Charles the Great, that barely a tenth part of 
them remained, and Charles was forced to give up the cam- 
