HUMAN AND ANIMAL VARIOLAS. 
193 
the eovv (when it does not produce vaccinia), and the readiness 
with which this animal is vaccinated. 
If small-pox could accidentally give rise to cow-pox, surely evi¬ 
dence of this would be forthcoming at the present day, when we 
have frequent, severe and extensive outbreaks. There are cer¬ 
tainly instances recorded of this so-called accidental transmission, 
observed many years ago, as well as coincident outbreaks of cow- 
pox in localities where variola was prevalent; but these instances 
are so very few, and depend, seemingly, upon such a mere chance, 
that they cannot be accepted as affording reliable proof of the actual 
possibility of such transmission; while the fact that small-pox 
prevails intensely over wide districts at times, without variola 
being observed in the bovine or other animal species, as well as 
the other fact that cow-pox is observed here and there—individu¬ 
ally, sporadically, enzootically, and even epizootically—without, 
however, small-pox being observed, goes far to negative the like¬ 
lihood of accidental transmission. 
That cow-pox may be a less frequent disease in this country 
than formerly, is quite possible, and, for the above reasons, very 
probable; though in this respect England would not be an excep¬ 
tion, for the veterinary professor, Spinola, mentions that it was a 
somewhat common malady towards the end of last century all 
over the German littoral of the Baltic; but to-day it is rare. Like 
all other diseases of this kind, however, it would appear to have 
its periods of subsidence and recrudescence. Neumann states that 
in Holland, in certain years, it was seldom seen, while in others— 
as in 1805, 1811 and 1824—it was rather frequent. Ritter says 
that in Schleswig-Holstein it is always present to some extent, 
but that in some years it assumes an epizootic form and is propa¬ 
gated from herd to herd—as in 1824,1826, 1829,1830 and 1832. 
Now and again, too, we read of isolated outbreaks in different 
countries, which attract attention because of the large number of 
animals affected. The most recent of these is that recorded by 
Professors Oreste and Sabbatini in 1876 (Gazetta Medico- Veteri- 
naria ), as occurring among a herd of buffalos, more than two 
hundred of these animals, young and old, being attacked. The 
eruption in the cows was chiefly confined to the udder and teats, 
