SYNOPSIS OF CONTINENTAL VETERINARY JOURNALS. 555 
for many days. Nothing would be more natural than to 
attribute the epidemic to this originating cause, and such a 
conclusion is rendered the more plausible, since neither in 
Klosen nor in the neighbouring localities for many years 
had there been any cases of typhoid fever; nevertheless, this 
view was received with incredulity by the inhabitants and 
the patients, and with hesitation even by many of the 
physicians. Indeed, nothing very precise is known con¬ 
cerning typhus of the ox, for the so-called typhus of horned 
cattle has nothing in common with the disease of the same 
name as it occurs in man. The two doctors above named 
applied themselves with care to elucidate this point also, and, 
if the proofs which they bring forward are not absolutely 
convincing, they are at least sufficient to give their theory a 
basis and to draw the attention of practitioners to it. When 
the epidemic occurred and during its progress Dr. Walder 
heard about some calves which had fallen ill in the houses 
where the affected persons dwelt, many needed to be destroyed. 
He carefully examined the viscera of one of them, and 
observed lesions in every respect identical with those of 
typhoid fever, which I need not enumerate here. The 
conditions under which these animals were attacked by the 
disorder negatives any idea of transmission by other quadru¬ 
peds; so Walder supposes this transmission occurred by the 
infection resulting from direct contact with diseased persons, 
with clothes, or ejecta. 
Only one question remains undecided, and Dr. Walder 
can only suggest it without answering it for all cases. But 
he thinks with M. Huguenin, that the epidemic of Klosen 
was a direct infection from ingestion of the flesh of ani¬ 
mals suffering from typhus. This is the second time 
within 40 years that Switzerland has been the seat of 
such an accident; in 1839, another village some little dis¬ 
tance from Klosen (Andelfingen), suffered from an exactly 
parallel outbreak. Then it also originated at the meeting 
of a large number of young persons at a fete; out of 700 
persons, 440 fell sick, among them 74 children; happily, 
only 10 died. For some years hygienists have tended to 
compare the diseases of the lower animals with those which 
affect man, and to trace the development of the latter from 
the former; this tendency is very pronounced in epidemic 
disorders, and tends to increase daily. It is not advisable 
to conceal the fact that they evidently have very close rela¬ 
tions, but care must be taken not to advance too rapidly 
and fall into rash hypotheses, but when facts of a well 
marked character, such as those which have been observed 
