Reports on the diseases of cattle in the United States made to the Commissioner of Agriculture, with accompanying documents. / Department of Agriculture.

United States Department of Agriculture

Date:: 1869

Credit: Reports on the diseases of cattle in the United States made to the Commissioner of Agriculture, with accompanying documents. / Department of Agriculture. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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$rieurDpiunimoiiia intorlobularis oxsu(liiti\'a—Cilngo. rneuiuoiiiu catarrhalis gastrica a.stheiiica—Nuinanii. Haller's title of Viehseuclie is now almost always restricted to the Kussiau luurrain, aud tbe uame iu universal use in Germany is the popular one of Lnngensenche, aud on the title pages of monographs the ordinary expression emploj'ed is Lungenseuche des RindvieJics. It has, however, also been termed Lungcnfdule and Krehsartige Lungenfdule. Of the French authors, Chabert first names the malady Peripneumo- nie, ou af'ectioii gangrencuse du Poumon. Huzard describes it under Peripnexmonie Chronique, ouiMiisie lyulmonaire, and in 1844 Delafoiul designated it Peripneumonie contagieuse dti gvos Betail. The Dutch called it Kivaadaardige SlymzieTcte, Heerschende or Besmet- tehjTce LongzieMe, ShjmzieMe^ SlymlongzieMe, and BotacJitige Longzielcte. Iu Italy it has been known by the names Pulmonea del Bovini, and Pleuropneumonia essudativa. I am disposed to favor, as a popular name, that of lung plague, in order to avoid any confusion with sporadic aud non-contagious affec- tions of the chest. Many yeaxs ago Mr. Sarginsou, of Westmoreland, England, spoke of it as an epizootic influenza among eattle, and Mr. Barlow, afterwards a much respected i)rofessor in the Edinburgh Veterin- ary College, was among the &rst to draw attention to the disease under the head Eiiizootic Pleuropneumonia. HISTORY OF THE LIJ]SG PLAGUE. Ancient traditions and imperfect records rather tend to bewilder those who, from the inferences warranted by a complete knowledge of recent events, are anxious to place before the world evidence of the laws of nature having been immutable from time immemorial. Oiu- ideas of creation, and the facts bearing on the origin of all things, are too meager to warrant us in being confident of our interpretations of the past; and yet glimpses of light seem to promise a better understanding of even, antediluvian phenomena in almost every brauch of natiu^al history. The assertion that plagues known now to be propagated alone by conta- gion have thus been transmitted from the remotest antiquity, is usually met by objectors with the declaration that the first case must have devel- oped spontaneously. Professor Haubner, of Dresden,* accepting the proposition, says: It is correct that the lung plague was once devel- oped spontaneously, for no one can suppose that Noah had it with him in the ark. But we can point to a contagious disease, scab in sheep, which, if the words of the Bible are to be accepted, indicate the preser- vation of the scab insect. It is not my desire to enter on discussions which have no direct practical bearing, and I shall dismiss the objec- tions of those who spare themselves the labor of inquiry after posi- tive truth, by declaring that, so far as science has yet taught us, the great law, that like produces like, oi)erates in the increase of certain animal poi- ' Die EntstehTiiig und TUgung der Lungenscucho des Riudes, vou Dr. Karl Haubucr Leipzig, 1861. '$