On the occurrence of the malignant pustule in England / by William Budd.

  • William Budd
Date:
1863
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the occurrence of the malignant pustule in England / by William Budd. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    malady which is unlike any other, and which, in all re- spects, is one of the most remarkable to which man is liable,has hitherto escaped general recognition here; or that, as Mr. Druitt and Dr. Copland suppose, malignant pustule (except, perhaps, as a thing of extremest rarity) is never met with in England. This last alterna- tive, if true, would be very difficult to explain, inasmuch as the epizootic from which malignant pustule is de- rived, so far from being unknown here, has, from a very remote period, caused every year a large mortality in English live stock. • The “joint murrain,” “ black quarter, or “ quarter evil, and the “ blood” (the name by which the malady is known in the sheep), are the same diseases as the “ charbon,” “ quartier, and “ sang” of the French, and the “milzbrand” of the German writers. That a disease which is known to bo communicable to man should prevail in this country, and yet never be communicated to him, would be a strange, if not an un- accountable thing. * Th« epizootic described by Matthew I’aria as having been so fatal to cattle in England in 1252, was, probably, an epi- zootic of the disease in question. He relates that dogs and ravens which fed on the carcases of the infected cattle rapidly died in con- sequence, and the panic among men was so great that for the time tlie use of beef was given up. The following ia the verbatim account:— “ hijusdemquo anni curriculo, post multa astatia caumata, tem- pore advenieute autumnali, facta eat tanta pestifera armentorum mortalitaa pluribus locis in AngliA, precipu^ autein in Northfulc ct in Mariscos, et purtlbus Australibns, quantam nullus se merainit previdisse. In quA peste hoc evenit mirabile, quod de peconim mortuorum cadaveribus, etiam canes et corvi qul vescebantur, ilico intumuerunt et infecti obierunt. Undo nullus erat hominum qui esmes bovum comedere auderet, ne forte ipsa! essent de morticinis memoratis.” (Historia Major Hattlisei Paris. Editors, Willielmc Watts, S.T.D. Londini; 1048. P 847.)