HUMAN AND ANIMAL VARIOLAS. 
55 
horse); but in some species it is more or less local (variola with a 
fixed contagium), as in the horse, cow and goat; and in others 
general, as in the human, ovine, porcine, cameline. and canine 
species, (volatile coutagium). The disease may, and does, appear 
in one species entirely independently of its manifestation or ah- • 
sence in other species; and it may prevail most extensively in one 
species—as in the human or ovine species—and yet other species 
manifest no traces of variola. The few instances recorded of the 
malady having been transmitted from one species to another, must 
be looked upon with grave suspicion, and particularly those which 
have reference to the accidental communication of human variola 
to the cow or horse. There can scarcely be a doubt that the 
gravest mistakes have been made in this direction; and for evi¬ 
dence of this, we have only to refer to one instance, which, strange 
to relate, has been quoted not only by medical, but by veterinary 
authorities in this country, as affording undeniable proof that 
human small-pox may be transmitted to the cow. It is the in¬ 
stance given by Ceely, and insisted upon by him as conclusive cir¬ 
cumstantial evidence that human and bovine variola are one and 
the same disease. As the mistake made by Ceely has not hitherto 
been discovered, I take upon myself the responsibility of pro¬ 
claiming the error, by reproducing his narrative of the occurrence, 
and commenting upon it. He writes :— 
“ At the village of Oakley, about sixteen miles from the town 
of Aylesbury, small-pox has been epidemic from June to October, 
1840. Two cottages, in which three persons resided during their 
illness, were situated on each side of a long, narrow meadow, 
comprising scarcely two acres of pasture-land. One of these 
three patients, though thickly covered with pustules of small-pox, 
was not confined to her bed after the full development of the 
eruption ; but frequently crossed the meadow to visit the other 
patients—a woman and a child—the former of whom was in 
great danger, from the confluent malignant form of the disease, 
and died. According to custom she was buried the same evening ; 
but the intercourse between the two cottages was still continued. 
On the day following death the wearing apparel of the deceased, 
the bedclothes and bedding of both patients, were exposed for 
