Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes Co., O. [Ohio]) 1870-1895, 1872-12-05
THE HORSE DISTEMPER
The Same thing Prevailed One
Hundred and twenty-five
Years Ago.

| 1uASi4Co oAo "C0ty. wv
Years Ago.
The horse distemper has been next to
universal in this city. In many Other
cities and towns it has been equally com.
mon-taking down and incapaciating for
labor nearly all the horses, and carry
ing off some, though comparatively
few.
Most people believe-and we have
heard many observe-that this peculiar
disease of horses is something entirely
new and unprecedented.
But they are mistaken. Perhaps the
time has long gone by when there was
anything new; certainly this horse dis
ease is not. 1t prevailed very extern
sively one hundred and t,'eaty-t,oo years
ago, and seems to have been just the
same thing then as it is row.
Then, as now, it followed a remark
ably hot summer; that is to say, unusu-
ally hot for the lacality where the dis
temper ragged.
That our last summer was extraor-
dinarily hot is established by carefully
kept public records, which show it to
have been the hottest for over one hun
dred years.
Then, as now, it occurred after the
hot weather was over--though at pc
riod a little later in Great Britain than
here, correspo nding with the difference
of climate.
Then, as now, it was "the most epi-
demie and universally spreading dis
ease among horses that any one living
remembered"
Then, as now, it was "nearly anala-
gous to the influenza and catarrhal fe-
yer" among mankind.
Then, as now, it seized the animals
like violent cold, with heaviness, loss
of appetite, cough and laborious breath
ing, and then profuse running at the
nose and mouth of digested or thick
yellow, greenish matter"
All of these points, corresponding
precisely with the disease as it now
manifests itself, are laid down in a
treatise on "Animal Plaques: their
History, Nature and Prevention" by
George Fleming, F. R. G. S., etc.-a
standard authority.
The following is Mr.. Fleming's de-
scription of the disease, as it manifested
itself in Ireland:
A. D. 1750.-In Ireland the spring
was dry and backward. Summer, ex-
cept a few excessively hot days, cold,
moist, and wlnter-like; but some days
in June were the "hottest in the mem-
ory of man." The same was recorded
of July, when Fahrenheit's therometer,
as on the former occasion, rose to sew
enty-siX degrees. A memorable fall of
snow occurred on the 23d of October.
November cold. "About the middle or
latter end of December, the most epi-
demic universally spreading disease
among horses that any one living re-
membered, made its appearance in Dub
lin, which seems to have been nearly
analogous to the intlenza and catarrhal
fever which seized mankind in the years
1737 and 1743, but now particularly at
tackled the horses in their turn, rs may
appear by comparison of their respec-
tive histories. 1t appeared in England
in November, and spread through all
England almost in instant, and to-
ward the end of the month began to
abate. 1t ragged in Denmark at the
same time, but it did not reach our
horses in Dublin till its decline in Eng
land at the time before mentioned, hav-
ing probably been imported, and was
nearly of the same duration here as in
England; however, it affected the
horses in Munster and Ulster almost,
if not quite, as soon as in Dublin, and
there was scarcely an instance of a
horse in town or country but had it," 1t
seized the animals "like a violent cold,
with heaviness, loss of appetite, cough,
and laborious breathing, and then pro-
fuse running at the nose and mouth of
digested or thick yellow, greenish
matter, upon which they grew better.
In England, as well as here, it did not
prove very mortal, though some died of
it. The death of our horses in the city
was imputed rather to the use of medi-
cines and too high a diet, than to any
malignity in the disease; for it was OBJ
servable that very few died in the coun-
try, and particularly none that were
kept at grass. 1t vanished about the
middle of January, 115l.'
If in this country the disease shall
vanish as soon after its appearance as it
did, according to the above account, one
hundred and twenty-five years ago, in
Ireland, all owners of horses-to say
nothing of those who, directly or in
directly, are benefited by them, which
includes everybody--will shortly have
occasion to rejoice.-PittsJurgh Gazette