A Third Account of the Distemper among the Cows; By C. Mortimer, M. D. Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, and Secretary of the Royal Society, London

effectually guard him against taking Cold; which he has found so far to answer, that he is now able to go 500 Miles with less Hazard of Cold, than he could go 20 before; and he has never had what he can strictly call a sore Throat since. II. A Third * Account of the Distemper among the Cows; by C. Mortimer, M.D. Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, and Secretary of the Royal Society, London. Read Jan. 9. During the Christmas Holidays, 1745, we sent for some Milk, as usual, from the Vineyard in St. James's Park; none of the Cows belonging to that House having as yet caught the Distemper, tho' three had already died in the Park: We used Part of the Milk for Chocolate, and set Part by for Cream for the next Morning: The Milk had a rank sourish Smell and Taste like rank Butter; the Cream next Morning was more so: We boiled the Milk, which did not curdle; so we used the Cream with Tea, tho' the Taste was not very agreeable. The Milk boiled curdled in the Tea; neither any of my Family, nor a Friend who drank of it, found any Inconvenience from it. Upon sending the Morning following for more Milk, the People refused selling any, saying, one Cow was taken ill, and * See the First and Second Account in these Transactions No. 477, p. 532 and 549. and another was near dry*. This was the Cow whose Milk we had had, and she died in 48 Hours. Next Day another fell ill, and was knock'd on the Head by the public Officer, in about 48 Hours after her being seized. I had the Curiosity to see this Cow opened, which was done the next Day but one. The Inflammation in general in this Creature was greater than what I had before seen in any of those which died of the Distemper: This Cow had been blooded about three Weeks before she was taken, and once as soon as taken: The Cawl was greatly inflamed, the Paunch inflamed, and the inner Coat peeled off, especially that of the [Abomasum] Faidle; the Guts were all inflamed; the Liver was much inflamed in some Parts, in others was turned livid; the Gall-bladder was very large, and the Gall very liquid: The Lungs adhered, in many Places, to the Pleura, were greatly inflamed, and turgid with Blood, and were in many Places quite black; I did not find any of the watry Bladders on the Surface of these, as I did on all the others I had seen opened. Here's an Instance of the most surprisingly quick Progress of this Distemper, and to such a violent Degree, that I do not think it in the Power of Medicines * I sent for some of the Milk of the sick Cow, after she had been about 12 Hours ill: They could not get above two Ounces, which was as thick as Cream, and yellow like Cheese: It curdled, being put into Bohea Tea next Morning. In about three Days keeping, it turned of itself into a Substance like Cream Cheese, without separating any Serum. In eight Days it dried away to an hard cheesy Substance, and in fourteen Days became quite dry, like the Rind of Gloucester Cheese: It smell like rank Butter at first, but never corrupted or stunk. dicines to have prevented Death; but I think this Case is still a further Confirmation of the Necessity of plentiful Bleeding as soon as a Beast falls sick, especially if a Shortness of Breath ensues: This Cow was not come to the Stage of Purging. From the Distemper getting into the Park, I think there is Reason to conclude it cannot arise solely from any Fault in the Food, because the Pasture is always good there, and, from the great Number of Horses, always kept low; and the Soil never dunged or manured; and the Cows have Plenty of Hay in Winter. How it got into the Park is very strange; there having been no fresh Cows brought in there since Welsb-Fair in August. And this is further very observable, that tho' this Distemper seems so very infectious among the Cow-Kind, yet I do not hear any of the Deer have fallen ill; which is much more likely to happen to them than to the Horses, because they chew the Cud, these do not. I humbly therefore suggest, whether it would not be the most likely means to put a Stop to the spreading of the Distemper, to forbid any Cows or Calves, being brought to Market, to be sold alive, or that any Farmers should buy in any fresh Cattle for six Months, or till it is found, that the Distemper is intirely ceased; and that all fat Cattle should be kept carefully separated from the Cows and Calves, and that under severe Penalties. An Appendix to the foregoing Paper. Upon my reading the foregoing Paper, some Gentlemen present favoured the Company with the following Informations and Remarks. Mr. Theobalds, a worthy Member of the Society, and a diligent Observer of remarkable Occurrences, informed the Gentlemen present, that the first Infection of this dreadful Distemper among the Cow-Kind was brought over from Holland, in April 1745, by means of two white Calves, which a Farmer at Poplar near London sent for in order to mix the Breed; and that the Infection was got to Maidenhead in Berkshire, by two Cows brought out of Essex, and sold at the Fair there: That there was observable a very disagreeable Smell in the Clothes of Persons, who had been very conversant with sick Cows; and that the Infection had been propagated by means of Sheep, who, it is presumed, carried it in their Wool. Upon the Mention of this Scent in Clothes, I remarked, that Dr. Lobb, in his late Book intitled, Letters relating to the Plague, and other contagious Distempers, London 1745, in 8vo. in his Letter to John Milner Esq; p. 388. recommends to Persons conversant about sick Cows to wear a Linnen Garment (over their other Clothes) wetted with a Mixture of Salt and Vinegar; and, ibid. p. 383. he gives many prudent useful Rules to Farmers for the Management of their sick Cattle. Dr. Parsons, another ingenious Fellow of the Society, said, That the Cattle in the high Grounds about Hampstead, Highgate, Millhill, and Hembdon, had hitherto remained free from the Infection; but that it had spread all about in the lower Grounds. Mr. Hoffman, a learned Danish Gentleman present at this Meeting, said, This Infection was first carried into Denmark by raw Hides of Cattle dead of this Distemper, rubbed with Wood Ashes, in order to preserve them fit for tanning, which were brought from Flanders: That some Cows sickened in a few Days after the Unpacking of these Hides in Denmark; and that they have lost above 50,000 Head of Cattle in that Kingdom. At another Meeting, Mr. Collinson, a Member greatly deserving of the Society, acquainted the Company present, that a Farmer in Essex, who had the Distemper among his Cows, invited a neighbouring Farmer to come and assist him in giving Drenches to some of his sick Cattle; the good-natured Man went accordingly, and spent best Part of the Day with his Neighbour, to lend him his Help. in his Distress, little dreaming of what ill Consequence this freindly Act was about to prove to himself: for, being so many Hours conversant with the diseased Cows, so much of the infectious Effluvia adher'd to his Clothes, that, as he was walking home, which was about a Mile and half, his Way lying thro' a Field in which several of his own Cows were feeding, he no sooner enter'd the Field, but the Cattle all left off their Grazing, ran to the farther End of the Field snorting and flinging up their Noses, shewing the greatest Uneasiness at their Master's Approach, and endeavouring, as much as possibly they could, to avoid him, as tho' they smelt something very disagreeable; and so indeed it proved to them, for the very next Day many of them fell sick, and died in a few Days. A certain Cow-keeper in Tothill Fields, Westminster, had 30 Cows, out of which Number 4 only have survived; 2 never took the Infection, one had it and recovered; and he assured me, that one had the Distemper four several times; for that, as soon as she was well for a Week or ten Days, she relapsed, and went thro' all the Stages of the Disease, but now continues well. In St. James's Park are kept seventeen Cows, of which Number four were bought in new at Welsh-Fair; out of these eleven are dead; four never had the Distemper, and two recovered from it. These are the Cows which were so plentifully blooded, mention'd in my former Paper, No. 477. p. 552. and one of them, then said to be very big with Calf, being recovered, went the proper Time, had a living Calf, and is well and thrives: Indeed they knock'd the Calf on the Head, because they wanted the Milk. I am informed, that a Farmer at Little Chelsea, who had but ten Cows, has not had any fall sick, tho' his Neighbours had Cows sick all around him. His Management was, not to let any of his Cattle have any Communication with his Neighbours; to keep them within Doors, littered like Horses with clean Straw; to feed them with good Hay, and give them Plenty of clean Water to drink; to turn them out every Day at Noon into his Yard to air themselves; and, in the mean time, to clean out the Cow-houfe carefully; removing all the Litter, washing the Pavement clean with a Birch-broom, laying clean Litter, and keeping them warm a nights. As a contagious Distemper among the Cow-kind is no new thing, I thought proper to look into the *Auctores de re rustica*; but find none so full in the Account of the Pestilence among Cattle as Columella is, in *Lib. vii. cap. 5*. He advises, as soon as any Signs of an infectious Distemper are perceived, to drive the Cattle immediately into a different Air, at as great a Distance as can conveniently be done; to separate the sick from the sound; and that there should be no intercourse between them, lest the Infection be carried to the sound. If these Cautions only were religiously observed by our Farmers, I think there is Reason to hope the Contagion would soon be extinguish'd. I should advise the building several small Hutts with Faggots and Broom, at a Distance one from another, in some fallow'd Field, and there keep a Man constantly to attend the sick Cattle, and to have every Beast, as soon as it begins to ticken, removed into one of these Hutts, as into an Infirmary; by which means the Cow-house will be kept clear from Infection: And never let this Man go near the well Cattle, but keep them in the most distant Pastures, and let them have Hutts run up likewise to shelter themselves under from the Inclemencies of the Weather, providing them with clean Straw to lie on. I heartily wish we had the Experience to say with Columella, *Evincendi sunt autem quamvis pestiferi morbi; & exquisitis remediis propulsandi*. He recommends a Drench made of a Wheat-Mash made with All-heal, Eringo-Roots, and Fenel-seeds; and he says he has known as an immediate Remedy, a Rowel made in the Ear with the Roots of the larger black Hellebore; and he says, that Celsus advises the pouring into the Nostrils Wine, in which Mistletoe-leaves have been bruised. These infectious Diseases have not been confined to the Cow-kind alone, but sometimes the Contagion has been so virulent as to attack all Sorts of Brutes as well as Men. Ovid mentions a dreadful Instance in his *Metamorph. lib. vii. l. 536*. *Strage canum prima, volucrumque, oviumque, boumque.* And *ibid. l. 538*. *Concidere infelix validos miratur arator* *Inter opus tauros; medioque recumbere sulco.* Virgil gives an Account of such another contagious Sickness in his *Georgic. lib. iii. l. 515*. *Ecce autem duro fumans sub vomere taurus* *Concidit, & mixtum spumis vomit ore cruorem,* *Extremoque ciet gemitus:* Lucretius, mournfully describing the Plague at Athens, of which Thucydides has left us so ample a Relation, records the infection being likewise spread among the Cow-kind: See lib. vi. l. 1129. Consimili ratione venit bubus quoque sepe Pestilitas, etiam pecubus balantibus ægor. Soon after the Times of Constantine the Great, one Severus Sanctus a Christian Poet has left us a melancholy Account of a Murrain then reigning among the Cows, in a Latin Eclogue, intituled, Carmen de mortibus bovin, which was reprinted at Leyden, in the Year 1715.8°. In the Beginning of his Poem the Author describes the sudden Destruction that Distemper carried with it, and the Progrets it made in Europe so like what it has now done, that I believe transcribing his Words will not be disagreeable. Line 13. Buculus says Scis, Ægon, gregibus quam fuerim potens; Ut toris pecudes fluminibus vagae Complerent etiam concava vallium, Campos, et juga montium. Nunc lapsa penitus spes opis est meæ; Et, longis peperit quæ labor omnibus Vitæ temporibus, perdita biduo. Cursus tam citus est malis. Ægon goes on; Hæc jam diræ luces serpere dicitur. Pridem Pannonios, Illyricos quoque, Et Belgas graviter stravit; et impio Cursu nos quoque nunc petit. We see, by these Accounts of the Murrain among Beasts and Cattle, that this dreadful Distemper has often accompanied or preceded the Plague among the human Species: What Pains therefore does it behove Us to take to prevent the spreading of this Disease among Brutes? and what Warning ought Man to take, lest the Pestilence should come home to Him? as the Poet says above, Ne impio cursu Nos quoque nunc petat.