saying, when the beast is dead the poison is dead, being generally true, the virulence of the contagion, in the above instances, possessed venomous properties of an exceptional character, for if every sick animal slaughtered by the butchers and sold to the consumers, or those which had been flayed for the sake of the skin, had contained so murderous a virus in their tissues, the number of victims to the contagion among the human species would have been appalling. And in that case, too, similar sacrifices would be witnessed at present, for it cannot be doubted that, in the actual state of the meat market in London, the people are now in the daily habit of eating the flesh of cattle which are diseased.
Physicians of different countries have naturally bestowed much time and care in considering and discussing the nature of this epizootia, because they have felt that a satisfactory theory and appreciation of its principal phenomena, might afford the medical faculty a rational basis for some special treatment.
Layard and the physicians of Geneva have considered this cattle disease to be a malignant fever with an eruptive tendency.
In the estimation of the faculties of Paris and Montpellier, this cattle disease, considered in its symptoms, was nothing more than a malignant fever essentially contagious, the action of which appeared to tend exclusively towards the skin, and therefore it was rational to provoke external eruptions and deposits which, as they matured, diverted from the centre the greatest part of the morbific matter.
The treatment, to which, above all, we invite the reader's attention (more particularly that of medical men), necessarily varied according to the period of the disease. It was sometimes preservative, sometimes curative, as the case might be.
The Preventive Treatment.– The farmers and cattle-breeders, whose herds were still exempt from the contagion, mindful of the advice which they received through the public press, took very particular care of their cattle during this season of epizootia: they rubbed them over with a brush, and washed them at least once a day; they sheltered them from the inclemency of wind and rain; they took their milch cows, which until then they had kept shut up in unhealthy cow-houses, into the open air of the fields; they washed and fumigated the stables; they examined the quality of the fodder and of the other articles of food; they added marine salt to their drinking water, or poured salt water over their forage; and above all, they took care that no foreign animal commingled with their flocks and herds.
Some physicians, on their side conscious of the duty which devolves upon them in such seasons of calamity, instead of resting satisfied with recommending remedies, betook themselves boldly to the work, and studied the disease experimentally in respect to its propagation and prevention.
Thus, for instance, certain Dutch physicians, in 1754, wishing to know whether the morbid matter would transmit the disease by inoculation, made incisions in the necks of some oxen, cows and calves, inserting in the wound a little tow saturated with the morbid secretions discharged from the eyes and nostrils. This direct inoculation having been practised on seventeen animals, transmitted the disease to them all in the course of a few days.
The English physicians having been made acquainted with these experiments, applied them to a more practical purpose, no longer to discover whether the disease could thus be transmitted (for that had been proved), but to find out (what was far more important) whether this fearful distemper could be prevented and kept off.
Malcolm Flemming, in 1755, merely suggested the idea of inoculation as a preventive means, without proceeding to a course of experiments to ratify his opinion. He intimates his notion in the following terms: —
"I apprehend that inoculation will stand the better chance of bringing on the distemper, if the subject it is performed on is as young as safety will permit, the vessels being then most absorbent, and the animal economy most easily put into disorder.
"But even in case the inoculation of calves should be found so successful as universally to prevail, the method I recommend will not be altogether useless; for, by being properly modelled and adapted to circumstances, it may, I am persuaded, prevent contagion, and likewise act as a preparative in any epidemical affection of the inflammatory kind, not only in horned cattle, but likewise in all other quadrupeds that civil society may think worthy of preservation, and even in the human species."
Layard, in 1757, devotes the seventh chapter of his work, "The Means to prevent the Infection," to the consideration of the preventive treatment, in which he says: —
"No one will think of bringing the infection into any place free from it, merely for the sake of inoculating their cattle; but if the contagious distemper be in the neighbourhood of a herd, or break out so as to endanger the stock, the grazier or farmer may, by inoculating his cattle, with proper precautions, at least secure his stock, since he can house them before they fall sick, prepare them, and have due care taken, knowing the course of the distemper.
"Sir William St. Quintin, the Rev. Dr. Fountayne, Dean of York, and other gentlemen have succeeded in inoculation: in Holland it has both failed and succeeded. These gentlemen all inoculated with matter taken from the running of the mouth, nose, or eyes. Professor Swenke mentions that the beast from which he took the matter was recovering from the distemper. A circumstance to be attended to is this: – had matter been taken after the crisis, from a tumour, boil, pimple, or scab, either on the back near the spine, or on the legs, the pus would have proved much more elaborated, subtle, and infecting than that which, flowing with the mucus of the nose, must necessarily be, in some degree, sheathed by this glutinous excretion, though I am well aware how putrid and acrid it is rendered by the disease.
"That nothing may be omitted which in any shape can contribute to the success of inoculation, due attention should be paid to the constitution and state of the beast, no less in this practice on the cattle than on the human species. Undoubtedly the young, healthy, and strong bid fairer for a good issue than the old, sickly, and feeble; each of these different constitutions demand a particular treatment, even in the method of preparation; and however trifling it may seem to many – the urging a necessity of preparation – I will venture to affirm that I have seen excellent effects arising from a rational preparation, and fatal events from want of preparation. I have likewise been witness of unfavourable turns, merely from an injudicious preparation.
"The beasts which are sanguine require moderate bleeding; those that have but a small share of blood must have none drawn. The strong must, besides moderate bleeding and purging, be kept on light diet, and their body kept open. Thus, scalded bran, mixed with their hay and chaff, will cool them. The weakly, and such as are inclined to scour, must be kept on dry fodder, and have peas and beans given them to strengthen them. A mess of malt, or a quart of warm ale, with a few spices, will be very suitable for them.
"Whatever diseases the cattle may be affected with, if time will permit, they are first to be removed.
"The cattle to be inoculated are first to be well washed, rubbed dry, and then curried, to remove all the filth from the hair and skin. Then they are to be placed in a spacious barn or stable, where the air is temperate and no cold can come to them. There they are to be prepared according to the direction already given, foddered with good sweet hay, and watered with clear spring water; and if the distemper be not near, they may be turned out into the air, near the barn or stable, and may stay there a few hours in the middle of the day.
"When it appears that the cattle are in perfect health, free from any infection or disease, brisk and lively, neither costive nor scouring, and chewing their cud, then the operation may be safely undertaken, and henceforth they must be confined to the barn.
"Since there is observed to follow the greatest flow of the contagious and putrid particles separated from the blood, wherever the infectious matter makes an impression at first, particular care must be taken not to inoculate near such vital parts as the heart and lungs, nor near the womb, if a cow with calf be inoculated; for, though rowels are properly
