The Early History of Veterinary Literature and its British Development

THE

JOURNAL OF

COMPARATIVE PATHOLOGY AND

THERAPEUTICS. VOL. XXV I.-No. 4.

DECEMBER 31, 1913.

PRICE 2S.

6d.

THE EARLY HISTORY OF VETERINARY LITERATURE AND ITS BRITISH DEVELOPMENT. By Major-General F. SMITH, C.B., C.M.G., F.R.C.V.S. (Continued from p. 223.)

Delprato's defence of Rusius certainly brings out some strong points in his favour; he appears to have made substantial additions to veterinary knowledge, and, if we can judge from the frequency with which he is quoted, he was more widely read than Ruffus. His work served as the basis of many veterinary compilations, and the trainers in the High School of Horsemanship of the sixteenth ce:1tury, Pasquale Caracciolo of Naples and Claudio Corte of Pavia, both subsequently writers on veterinary matters, acknowledge their indebtedness to him. It was partly through Corte, who came to England as Court Riding Master in the reign of Elizabeth, that the work of Rusius became known in this country. There are a number of manuscripts of the work of Rusius known to exist. Moule gives a list of seventeen in Latin and four in Italian or Sicilian. There are two in the British Museum; No. 22,126 is in cursive characters, the writing and ink good throughout; the chapters are not numbered. The work extends over 113 folios, and is followed by a page containing drawings of bits. No. 22,824 is a beautiful fifteenth-century copy on vellum, translated into Italian by Barulo. We are informed that the translation is executed in elegant and pure language. The work is finely written in double columns; it contains 234 chapters. In this manuscript Pelagonius, Columella, Chiron, and Apsyrtus are referred to, but especially Jordanus Ruffus, who is quoted in innumerable places. It is clear from this that the fifteenth-century scribes were at work, for Rusius, as we have seen, did not acknowledge his indebtedness to Ruffus nor to the Roman or Byzantine T

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writers. A printed notice is pasted on the title page of this manuscript which indicates the extent to which J. Ruffus and L. Rusius have been confused. It says the work of "Laurent Rutius" was the text-book from which so many works on" farriery" have been made, but so altered and added to as to make an entirely new work of it, .as is the case with the present manuscript. In fact, it contains a totally different work from that originally composed by Master Zorda Russo, which was translated into Italian by Bruno in 1492. From this it is evident that the writer of the notice did not appreciate the fact that Laurence Rusius and Jordanus Ruffus were 1[10t the same men. Theprinted notice referred to also draws attention to the fact that MS. 22,824 contains a note of a scientific discovery of the first importance in the history of explosives. Rusius gives in Chapter CCXXXII. .a recipe for the manufacture of a mercury fulminating powder; this is the earliest known reference to the. subject. It would be interesting to refer to a fourteenth-century manuscript of the work ,of Rusius in order to confirm this discovery. The veterinarian of Rome was hardly likely to have been interested in the question of .explosives, and unless the contrary can be proved it would appear that the recipe was inserted by the fifteenth-century compilers. It only remains to say with regard to this beautiful manuscript that it was doubtless executed by one of the first scribes of the period for Nicholas, third Marquis of Este and Ferrara, in 1422, and that, so far as can be seen, the responsibility for any departure from the original Latin version must rest with the translator, Barulo or Barlecte, who rendered it into Italian. The most reliable manuscripts of Rusius are those of the fourteenth <:entury, and in 1867 Delprato, in a special monograph on Rusius, reproduced two of this period in Sicilian and Latin. To these refer·ence has already been made in communicating Delprato's views on Rusius. It has been usual to believe that the first printed edition of Rusius appeared in Rome in 1490, but Delprato in the above work states that he had before him an edition of 1486.1 The 1490 edition was printed from a celebrated codex in the hands of the Malatesta family of Cesena, which Molin regarded as the finest and best preserved. The title of the 1490 edition is as follows : "Table of all the chapters of the Book concerning the nature, selection, training, management, knowledge, and treatment of all diseases of the horse, by Laurence Ruzon learned in much experience and solicitude. Besides there have been examined with great diligence [passages?] concerning the book of Albert the Great on animals, and several other persons writing about the nature of horses." At the end of the book is the following: "Here ends the Book of the Marshalry of horses compiled by Laurence Rusius, Marshal of the City [Rome], and attendant of the Rev. Father Napoleon of Ursinis, Deacon of the Holy Adrian, Cardinal." 1 In the British Museum there is an edition of Rusius without date or place of printing. The catalogue shows it as 1485 with a query. The title page and colophon are identical with Delprato's account of the edition of 1490. The work is in Latin, and compared with the edition {)f 1531 it is a very small book.

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The title given to the 1485? and 1490 editions was The Book of Marshalry (farriery). It was not until the next printed version appeared, i.e., that of Paris in 1531, that the confusing title of Hippiatria was adopted. This edition was published in Latin as the Hippiatria or Marescalia.1 There is no mention of the codex from which it was taken, and Delprato is probably correct in saying that it can only be a transcript of the 1490 edition from which many abbreviations have been omitted, and that the 1490 edition must first be studied in order to understand that of 1531. In the Preface to the Paris edition of 15312 the publisher (Wechel) says he has been fortunate enough to secure the co-operation of

Fig. 8. The title page of the Paris edition of Rusius, 1531.

" John of Lyons, the Prior of Bonlieu (?), a learned man and a great lover of learned men, who has helped on this work from his own most copious library." The publisher does not neglect the opportunity of advertising other works he has in progress, and refers, amongst others to be produced, to one by Albert Durer on the symmetry of the human, and another on the equine, body. Human 1 The library, R. V. C., possesses two copies of this rare edition. The plate of the title page is reproduced (fig. 8); there are also two crude drawings of horses which do not illustrate anything in particular, and forty·three full size plates of bits. 2 It is quite likely that the production of this edition of Rusius was instigated by Francis 1., "the father of French literature," who, it will be remembered, commissioned Ruellius to produce the Byzantine" Hippiatrika."

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Proportions was subsequently published in French in 1557, but that dealing with the proportions of the horse unfortunately cannot be traced, and would appear never to have been published. . The other early editions of the work may be indicated : The 1531 edition was followed by another in Paris in 1532; in the following year it was again published in Paris, but this time in French; in 1535 it was published in German; in 1543, at Venice, in Italian. Subsequently there were three Italian editions published up to 1559, and eight or nine in French, one as late as 1610. The work, as usual, was not published in England, but when I come to deal with the sixteenth century it will be seen that Blundeville drew largely on it in his veterinary work, and quotes L. Rusius on almost every page. An edition of Rusius in French, published in 1559, exists in the British Museum (No. 44 f. 8). It consists of 182 chapters, one more than in the Latin edition'! The contents of the latter are as folIows :Selection of animals for breeding; care of foals; breaking, feeding, and management. These chapters are followed by pictures of fortY-lhree bits, described as "the most useful shapes ever figured, so that a horse suffering from any vice of the mouth may be dealt with." Dentition and bleeding round off the above subjects. Diseases then begin, and these are grouped into natural and hereditary; he also speaks of diseases of hypertrophy and atrophy, and those due to malformation. The following affections are dealt with, modern terms being . employed :Strangles, glanders, scabies, farcy, "anticore." Fever, catarrh, broken wind, cough. Wounds and injuries, sore back, fractures, fistulre, snake bite, etc. Paraplegia and swelled legs. Lampas, dysentery, tympanites, colic, acute indigestion, eversion of intestine. Castration. Lameness, spavin, curb, side-bone, exostoses, windgall, brushing, warts, grease, mud-fever, ropegall, picked-up nail, cut tendon, sprained tendon. Shoeing and its accidents, bruised feet, "pinsanese" disease, laminitis, quittor, canker, and sandcrack. Diabetes, retention of urine. Madness and infuriated horses. Points to be observed in keeping a horse in health and avoiding the common diseases. A comparison of the various parts of the body with the Signs of the Zodiac.

This rough outline of the table of Contents closely resembles that of ]. Ruffus. Some of the subjects leave the impression of poverty, for example, chest and gastro-intestinal affections. Rusius evidently had nothing to add to the meagre information he gained from Ruffus on these subjects. Lameness and shoeing are welI done. In connection with injuries it is interesting to observe that he speaks of suturing the cut ends of a divided tendon. In dealing with castra1 In this French edition the printer mentions that the Latin edition had been revised, amended, and amplified, as it had been badly done and had not satisfied the author's intentions. He could have known nothing of the intentions of Rusius, who by this time had been dead nearly 200 years.

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tion he recommends torsion to be employed by the common castrator, to whose want of skill with the cautery he draws attention. For the professional man he recommends the wooden clamp. His remarks on farcy we have previously promised to reproduce : "Farsina gets its name from the excessive moisture of the flesh and its repletion with humours. It is called by some people 'vermis' inasmuch as the putrid and superfluous humours make openings in the flesh and skin just as terrestrial worms do in the soiJ.1 The c!isease arises from the putrid blood which exudes from the veins, and sometimes from a blow or other injury. The disease may also arise from mixing with horses affected with the disease, for fa~sina is a contagious malady." The description is graphic and excellent, while the pathology would have passed current up to the middle of the nineteenth century. The description of a farcy eruption is most apt; the contagiousness of the disease and its development from injury have stood the test of centuries. J. Ruffus described a volatile farcy, so L. Rusius follows suit. He says that in this disease the ulcers form not only on the body but especially the head, which swells, accompanied by a heavy nasal discharge. This affection would appear to be strangles with multiple abscesses. The only other disease it is intended to refer to is "anticore," to which previous reference has been made at p. 2 I2. It is by no means clear what this denotes, and the affection appears to have originated with the early Italian school. Rusius describes it as a swelling of the breast accompanied by great distress, and says: "In this form of 'vermis' the excessive humours collect in hollow places such as the little house [pericardium] around the heart, and since the mass of humour is large the force of the heart cannot drive it all out, hence a certain part goes to the chest and causes tumours. If it occupies the neck this is a sign of death. The humours in the [pericardium] putrify, and this corrupts the substance of the heart and causes death. This affection causes suffocation of the heart, hence the name' anticore.'" The disease might be anthrax affecting the chest, and the rapid onset of the symptoms described by some old observers appears to confirm this. On the other hand, it might well be pleurisy with effusion. It is distinctly stated that the disease occurs in horses too well fed and with too little work. This negatives pulmonary trouble and increases the probabilities in favour of anthrax. . Rusius mentions an operation on the teeth to improve the mouth and the horse's condition; it was also said to improve the temper. Ercolani, who draws attention to this matter, indicates that the two lower tushes and corner incisors were drawn, and states that the operation was probably derived from the Arabs. In conclusion, Rusius must be accorded an important share in the regeneration of the veterinary art. He lacked the instinctive knowledge of Ruffus, though capable of making original observations, but he was superior to him in style and the greater completeness with which he wrote. 1 Hence the name " vermis" by which this disease was then generally known. and" cords" would certainly resemble the holes and tracks of an earth·worm.

The ulcers

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HUBERT OF CURTENOVA was a canon of Pergamos in Asia Minor. The codex of a work by him on th.;! diseases of horses exists in the library of St. Mark's at Venice 1 attached to one by Rusius. Molin describes it, and gives the opening sentence, in which Hubert states he is desirous of compiling a treatise on the diseases of the horse and the cures for the same in accordance with the teachings of ancient and modern veterinarians, which he undertakes to the honour of God and the benefit of the community. The work comprises eighty-nine chapters dealing with diseases and twenty-two with medicaments; its period is doubtful. The codex belongs to the fifteenth century, but for language reasons Ercolani, whom I have followed, assigns the writer to the fourteenth century. There is nothing of merit in the work. The diseases are described under unfamiliar names, perhaps due to the place where Hubert lived. Ercolani confesses he does not understand the terms employed. DINO Dr PIETRO DIN I (1350) was a member of a Florentine family of veterinarians, of whom seven followed the calling. He wrote a work on equine medicine, for an analysis of which I am indebted to Ercolani. The manuscript is rare, and has never been printed. 2 The author tells us it was begun in January 1352 and completed December 1359. The work is in five books, and is based on that of Aristotle, Vegetius, I ppocras the Indian, J ordanus Ruffus, and Theodore, Bishop of Cervia. Vegetius, however, is his chief guide, and part of Book V. is devoted to a eulogy of this writer. In his first book Dino deals with the various races of horses, presumably based on original observations; but in the purely veterinary part there is nothing new, and, as Ercolani remarks, no scientific progress to record. He mentions, however, spermatorrhea, and describes compression of the palatine artery by means of half a nut shell. He also relates an incident of the administration of mercury to a horse by one Dalmatino. Dino's pathology was based on that of Vegetius. Disease was generated by foul air, by fetor from decomposing substances, by bad water, and by consuming bad oats or swallowing dung. These were capable of generating corrupt humours, which in turn corrupted the stomach, and from this the whole body. Dino was jealous of the reputation of the art he practised. He drew attention to the fact that the ignorant and illiterate were entrusted with the cure of animals, and that some of these men without study joined the ranks of the veterinary art and did it no credit. One feature in the manuscript of Dino is a historical record of some of the chief practitioners of the veterinary art known to him. They are mentioned by name and their characteristics described. I shall glance at these names later; but one Pietro of Cortona is referred to as a clever castrator, who operated on animals without the use of hobbles. Moule suggests that this may mean that he practised the standing operation. BARTHOLOMEW OF SPADAFORA belonged to Messina. Bettinelli, in his Literary History of Sicily,' Vol. I., Part 3, mentions a veterinary work in Sicilian by this writer. It begins: " Here commences the book 1 2

Hensinger indicates other codices. There is one in the National Collection in Paris, and a second at Florence.

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of. Equine Medicine by the wonderful Master Johanni de Cruyllis." Attention has already been drawn to this codex (p. 207), which Molin regarded as a version of J. Ruffus, the order of the chapters and the method being the same as in that writer's work. With this view Ercolani is not satisfied, as he thinks the evidence insufficient. In the National Library at Paris there exists a manuscript (N o. 20,167) referred to by Moule, entitled The Book of Hz'erocles and Bassus on the Cure of Horses, which, it is stated, is a translation made from the Greek text into Latin by Master Bartholomew of Messina under instructions received from Manfred, King of Sicily. Bartholomew of Spadafora may have been a scholar and not a veterinarian. He may have translated J. Ruffus from Latin into Sicilian in the same way that he translated Hierocles into Latin. But the little known of him is conjecture. The year 1368 is assigned to him by Heusin ger. GIOVANNI or "MASTER JOHN" is mentioned by Moule in consequence of five manuscripts existing bearing his name. According t o these he is said to have written in the time of Charles the Great. Some of these manuscripts are on the diseases of the horse, another is on the qualities of horses, a third includes the diseases of falcons and horses. Facio (see p. 299), a veterinary writer of the fifteenth century, several of whose manuscripts have been preserved, refers to "Master John" as having lived in the time of the Emperor Charles the Great. Nothing further is known of him, and it is not unlikely that" John" is the elusive John of Damascus mentioned at p. 201, but the period does not agree with that of Charles the Great, who lived 742-814,1 MARTIN OF BOLOGNA is mentioned by Fantuzzi as probably a physician practising in that city in the fourteenth century, who wrote a few additions to the equine medicine of L. Rusius. Both Molin and Ercolani agree that what he added was useless and superstitious. JEHAN DE BRIE, a French agriculturist, wrote a book on the Art of Husbandry in 1379 by order of the King, Charles V. As a work on agriculture Moule describes it as excellent, but the diseases referred to can only be identified with difficulty, and in some parts are unintelligible. He assigns all digestive trouble to "noxious plants." The MF~NAGIER DE PARIS, written in 1393 by an unknown citizen of Paris, is described by MouIe as a treatise on moral and domestic economy, which illuminates life in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The author refers to the purchase of horses and the tricks of dealers, and mentions a few diseases, the treatment of which consists in the main of superstitious incantations. ANDREAS ALBRECHT is the first German writer of whom we have information. He is believed to have been Veterinarian and Farrier to the Emperor Frederick III. (?) ( 1355 A.D.) and Smith to the King 1 Charlemagne aimed at raising the intellectual plane of the laity. In the first year of his reign he issued an ordnance in which complete directions were given for all circumstances, on the farms, for the use of every kind of farm produce, for book-keeping and accounts, even for subordinate matters of agricultural work. ' Many officials were created to meet the necessities of his demands, among others, overseerR of the studs, blacksmiths, and saddlers (see ,. Cambridge Medieval History," Vol. II .• p. 664). It is quite reasonable to believe he did not neglect the veterinary art, considering its important bearing on agriculture.

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of Naples. A manuscript in the Library at Heidelberg-No. 226 (Moule)-states the above, but does not say which Frederick. However, in 1555 there was published anonymously at Frankfort a Hippiatria, Part 2 of which is purely veterinary, copied from Albrecht, who is there stated to have been employed by the Emperor Frederick IlL, Sicily doubtless being understood. In 1612 a work entitled Hippopronia was published at Frankfort. in which Albert is described as Smith and Farrier to the Emperor Frederick of Constantinople! There was no such sovereign. Albrecht in all probability lived in the fourteenth century, and we can safely follow Schrader-Hering in saying that nothing is known of his life. His work was printed in 1498 at DIm, and this edition is very rare. It is entitled The little book of the cure of tlte Horse. Curiously enough he is described on the title page as Smith to the Emperor Frederick and Veterinarian of Constantinople. Doubtless the title page of the 16r 2 edition was manufactured from this. Choulant quotes an edition of 1535, and says it is a brief extract from Rusius. In 1612 Albrecht's work was published as a third part of the Hippopronia,l a book on Tournaments and Riding compiled by Hoffman, a citizen of Frankfort. The veterinary portion merely reproduces Albrecht's recipes. With this edition are published plates of the numerous Italian bits found in Rusius, Paris edition, 153I. Hippopronia deals with a number of ordinary diseases, but is without system or method, and, further, like most of its class, only provides the "cure"; causes and symptoms are neglected. Without comparing it with the 1498 edition, it is not possible to say what additions Hoffman made, but a chapter entitled "If a horse is shot and one cannot get at the arrow" suggests that the original has been followed, and that the work had not been revised. JULIANA BARNES, OR BERNERS, is the supposed author of a celebrated work known as TIle Bokes of Haukinge and Huntyng or The Book of St. Albans. The lady was born in Essex towards the end of the fourteenth century, and became prioress of a nunnery near St. Albans. She was possessed of great personal and mental qualities. delighted in field sports, and embodied her experience of these and other matters in the book above quoted. It has always been a wonder how, cut off as she was from the world, she accumulated so large a store ofknowledge. 2 The book was first printed about 100 years after the manuscript was written, i.e., in 1496. In 1548 an edition was published under the title of TIle boke of hauking, huntyng, and fysshing, wz"th all the properties and medecynes that are necessary to be kept. rn 1590 Leonard Mascall, a man who made a great name for himself in veterinary literature, "silently adopted the treatise on angling," and modernised it. In r 595 another, and still greater veterinary writer, Gervais Markham, produced The Gentleman's Academy or The Book of St. Albans. Markham acknowledged that the book was not his, and that all he had done was to " reduce it into a better condition." The 1496 edition is described by Haselwood, whose account we have followed. The section on hawking deals both with the field 1

B.M.• No. 7907, d. 8. ~ Literary Researches into the Book of St. Albans." Joseph Haselwood.

2 ..

1811.

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sport and with the diseases and injuries the birds suffered from. The hawks were expensive to keep and train, and were scarce. It is in connection with them that the properties and medicines are mentioned. The designation "properties and medicines" was employed for the earliest printed work on the horse published in England. l This book will be noticed in its proper place. It; must not be confused with the above, which refers entirely to hawks, and does not deal with other animals. The second section of the book deals with hunting the buck, hare, and boar. Sandwiched between the items of advice are various precepts and proverbs, a ballad, an account of "the properties of a good horse," "the properties of a good grey-hound," the names of hounds, etc. The remaining sections of the work do not concern us. The reference to the properties of a good horse appears to have su&"gested to some writers that the manuscript of Juliana Berners deals more fully with this question than the text supports. As a' matter of fact it is limited to eight lines, one of which it is difficult to believe any woman could have written, let alone the prioress of a nunnery. We are told that" A good horse should have fifteen properties or conditions, that is to wit, three of a man; three of a woman, three of a fox, three of a hare, and three of an ass," and then goes on to state them. With many variations, and additional coarseness, comparison with these animals was repeated by various writers for some centuries. 2 Apart from the interest of this remarkable book, my object is to show that it contains nothing of a veterinary nature as regards horses, and so clear up a doubt which is likely to exist, owing to the similarity of title with the earliest work on the horse in English. In the Cotton Collection of manuscripts in the British Museum is one known as Galba, E. IV. It contains records and fragments of records of the Benedictine monastery of Christ's Church, Canterbury; collected by a prior at the end of the thirteenth or beginning of the fourteenth century. Among this material is found "the Catalogue of the library, and what appears to be notes on other subjects not in the Catalogue. Among the former is entered a manuscript entitled Practical Things about Horses. This no doubt was a COpy of a work of the Ruffus type, such as to-day exists in the Bodleian (Ashmole 1427, referred to below). The titles of the two are identical, and in each case the period assigned is the same. Among the notes of papers in Galba, E. IV., are some nineteen fragments dealing with the selection, breeding, and rearing of all animals of the farm, including mules, asses, and even chickens. The reference to mules is interesting, as it has generally been supposed these were not known in England before the reign of Henry VIII. We do not know the nature of the information imparted in these papers on breeding, but judging from the various subjects dealt with it must have been very thorough. There is nothing to indicate the author. See "History of the Horse," Bracy Clark, p. 33, footnote. " In a sixteenth - century "Agrioulturist's Note Book" (B.M., MS. 20,709), kept by one W. Lambard, the number of properties" of a horae have reached fifty,four, of which nine are tho! e of a woman. 1 2

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The evidence afforded by the Canterbury catalogue and the existing manuscript in the Bodleian points to the fact that as early as the end of the thirteenth or beginning of the fourteenth century there existed in England the same information which was in the possession of Italy, of which that country made such excellent use, while we turned it to no account. In the Bodleian Library at Oxford there is a Latin MS. of the thirteenth or early fourteenth century bearing the number Ashmole 1427. The work is entitled Practical Things about Horses, which deals with a knowledge of their care and diseases. A second tract in the same manuscript is entitled Practical Things about Dogs. The horse tract consists of se\'enty-two chapters, unnumbered. I t begins with the care, management, and breeding of horses, and then takes up diseases, beginning with the usual Ruffus grouping of vermis (farcy), anticore, strangulione (strangles), vivulio (vives ?). This manuscript closely corresponds with one in the British Museum, Tract 5 of Harleian MS, 3772.1 It will be remembered (pp. I I4, 208,2 22I) that Harleian MS. 3772 contains the following codices: Ruffus, Maurus. Hierocles to Bassus, and a tract by an unknown writer which will be found to begin at folio 59/60. This latter manuscript is incomplete; it suddenly ends at Chapter XXXIII. When compared with Ashmole 1427 they do not entirely agree; there are seventy-two chapters in the one, whereas in the Harleian MS. it would seem from the index that only fifty-five chapters were projected. In each manuscript the opening sentence in Chapter I. begins: "The horse should be bred from a stallion that has been constantly, carefully, and diligently kept, and little or not at all ridden for pleasure." I regard the tract by the unknown author in Harleian 3772 as a variation of Ruffus, and Ashmole I427 undoubtedly comes under the same head. nFTEENTH

CENTUR~

BARTHOLOMEW GRISONE of Bologna wrote a work on equine and bovine medicine in I429. He was a practitioner, and his observations ought accordingly to be valuable. The manuscript of his work is rare and has never been published. Ercolani describes it from a copy in the possession of Professor de Filippi. He gives a list of the chapters, and notes that though information is extracted from Vegetius and Columella, this may have been inserted by the copyist. He does not think that Grisone had any knowledge of Vegetius or Columella. Grisone mentions filaria lacrimalis in bovines, and also the casting off of a slough after intussusception in the ox. His work otherwise is not of any value. Bartholomew Grisone should not be confounded with Frederick Grisone, who lived a century later. VrSCANTO GIROLAMO,an Italian veterinarian, wrote a work during the fifteenth century, year unknown. which is merely a collection of the views of Vegetius, Jordanus Ruffus, and L. Rusius. Ercolani notes that the beginning of the book is a mere transcript of Rusius 1 2

The catalogue calls it five, but I can only make out four tracts in the group. At p. 208 it has unfortunately been described as a Sloane manuscript.

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rendered into Italian, and that it indicates the poverty-stricken condition of veterinary knowledge in Italy at this time. PIERO ANDREA was veterinarian at the court of King Alphonso of Spain, and wrote his Treatise on the Veterinaty Art during the life of his successor, Ferdinand of Arragon. Ercolani states that his description of diseases is not very careful and much inferior to Ruffus and Rusius. He is especially elaborate on the colours of horses, noting some twenty and assigning to each different qualities. He describes" baio" and" roan" coloured horses, so that these terms are evidently very old. In one particular Andrea differs from the accepted views of his period; he is free from superstition, and he com bats the opinion of those who attribute a hurtful influence to the moon's rays. In the British Museum is a manuscript (18,785) of this writer. It consists of 20I chapters, and would appear to have been copied in the sixteenth century. MASTER FACIO. About the middle of the fifteenth century a manuscript on the veterinary art was written by Master Facio of Amendolora and dedicated to King Ferdinand of Sicily.! There is nothing in the substance of this work to distinguish it from the mediocre productions of its own and the previous century, but curiously enough the name of " Master John" has been linked up in certain manuscripts with that of Facio (see p. 295), and this" John" is so far indicated that it is stated he was veterinarian to Charles the Great. It is a far cry from Charlemagne (742-8I4 A.D.) to the middle of the fifteenth century, and there seems to be no reason why the work of Facio and that of "J ohn" should have been connected, excepting on the assumption that the fifteenth-century writer served up a ninth-century codex and was sufficiently honest to acknowledge the fact. There are two codices in which Facio is represented as saying: "This is the narrative which Master John wrote in the time of the Emperor Charles the Great." But there is no explanation why some codices represent the work to be by" John," while others state that it is the work of Facio There are two Facio MSS. in our National Collection, but they only make the question still more complex. In the older one of the two, Eg. I985, the manuscript is described as having been composed by one called" Messer Joanne Facio" by order of the Emperor Charles the Great. It is clear that the scribes have been busy here, and have either amended or manufactured the manuscript. It is a fifteenth-century codex, so that the facts regarding Facio ought to have been obtainable. In the second manuscript, Sloane I074, a codex of the sixteenth century, the work is described as Veterinary ReC£pes, composed by Mr Fatio. N 0 refer~ ence to "Master John" occurs in this manuscript. Moule tells us of a manuscript in the library at Parma, on the first page of which the work is attributed to Facio, and on the second page to " J <:ihn "! Facio and" John" are elusive beings who remind us of the difficul·ties experienced with" Ippocras the Indian." If we can place any dependence on a manuscript once in the possession of Ercolani, and referred to by Moule, Facio is described as a native of Amendolora (on the Gulf of Tarentum), and the work was undertaken at the instigation of Bernardo of St. Severino, Count of Lauria, his disciple, 1

This manuscript is in the National Library at Paris.

300

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and lord of Amendolora. Without labouring the matter further, it is evident that some curious mixing up of two distinct men has occurred, though they are separated from each other by over 350 years. No manuscript of Facio has been printed, nor so far as I have seen are they of any value. The only disease to which any real attention is paid is fever, and similarly" Master John" was in his time distinguished for his" knowledge of the nature of all the fevers and other infirmities which develop in the bodies of horses." Both "John" and Facio recognised five fevers, and in the British Museum codex, Eg. 1985, the first seven chapters of the book are devoted to this subject. The strong feature in this Facio MS. is the collection of remedies, quoted on the authority of various prescribers, the majority of whom are members of the nobility and laymen. Not that the remedies are valuable, but they afford us an insight into the life of the times, when the veterinary art in Italy was being studied and apparently practised by some of the highest ranks of the Italian nobility. Their names are given,l also the dates on which the remedy was communicated or announced. The earliest date is 14th October 1467, the latest date mentioned is 20th January 1470, so that we may "afely believe Facio's work was produced before the end of the fifteenth century and subsequent to that of Andrea. This corresponds in point of time with the end of the Middle Ages, and the increased scholarly activity in Italy brought about by printing. Perhaps it is for this reason that we find the Italian nobility enthusiastically interesting themselves in veterinary matters. The second British Museum MS. of Facio (Sloane 1074) belongs to the end of the sixteenth century; its date is July 1595. It is more than ever a collection of recipes, though not one of the original names of authorities remains. The editor or scribe-for Facio must have been long dead-introduces an entirely new set of authorities, and the manuscript gene.rally is much larger than the one which originally existed. MANUEL DIAZ, Major Domo in the Court of Alphonso V., King of Arragon, is credited with the production of a work entitled The Book of the Veterinary Art, written about the middle of the fifteenth century. As a matter of fact, Ollala,2 quoted by Moule, tells us that the origin of this work was due to the heavy losses the King experienced among his horses on a recent campaign, and which appears to have been attributed to defective veterinary knowledge. After the campaign Diaz was comma1lded by Alphonso,S with the aid of the best veterinarians in the country, to collect information. The book therefore should represent the state of the veterinary art in Spain, but Professor Rodriquez of Madrid 4 says it reproduces the best Italian writers, whose work Diaz had learned to appreciate after the Spanish conquest of Naples in 1435. At this time Spain could have obtained the information nearer home, for the Arabs had been 700 1 The Dukes of Venosa and Calabria; Counts de AltavilIa, Vicenza, and de Marizliano, besides these several commoners, including the Spanish veterinarian Piero Andrea. Moule notes a somewhat similar codex in the library of Parma, which deals with a certain veterinarian called Giorgio, of whom nothing more is known. 2 Morcillo Ollala, "Spanish Veterinary Bibliography," 1883.~ a Alphonso V., 1416-58, was a great friend· to the veterinary art, and laid the foundation of the profession in Spain. See Lebret, "Recueil de Med. V eMr.," Vol. II., p. 483, 1825. 4 See llIouJe.

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3 01

years in the Spanish Peninsula, and possessed not only Arabic translations of the best authors, but themselves furnished acute and critical understanding in veterinary matters. It is probable that religious intolerance prevented any work by an Arab being read by a Christian in Spain. Ercolani indicates that the work of Diaz is copied from an Arabic codex translated into Italian by Moses of Palermo. There is no copy of Diaz in the British Museum. Moule describes it as consisting of two books, the first being devoted to the care, management, and diseases of the horse, the second book being confined to the mule. The manuscript was printed at Castile in I495; again in I 5 I I at Saragossa and Toledo; and at Barcelona in I 575. There were three other editions before the sixteenth century expired. WILLIAM OF VILLIERS wrote A Treatise on the Horse in 1456 consisting of I58 chapters. The author was a Frenchman, whose history we learn from Moule is unknown. He does not attempt to pass this work off as original. He draws on "Ippocras" and "Jordain Ruf," giving each a separate book, and devotes a third book to "many masters." Moule tells us the work is but little superior to any appearing at that time. It would seem never to have been printed. WILLIAM TARDIF, a distinguished literary man of the fifteenth century, was commanded by Charles VIII. of France to publish .a work on Hawking and Hounds. It is contained in two books. The first deals with the diseases of hawks, and it is astonishing to observe the number of affections to which these were liable. The second treats of hounds, and enumerates about twenty-five diseases. There is an attempt at classification, and for each disease the cause, symptoms, and treatment are given. Tardif did not attempt to produce an original work. He was a scholar, and knew what sources to draw upon, all of which he mentions. His work has been republished in recent years-The Art of Falconry' (B.M., No. 79I2, i. I9), dated 1880. LEONARDO DA VINCI (1452-I520), "artist, thinker, and man of science," made many studies for the equestria:n statue of Francesio Sforza at Milan. There are forty sheets of these showing the movements of the horse's limbs; only one presents the animal in full gallop. We are told that before he took up the Sforza statue in 1482 he previously worked for weeks, months, and even years, experimenting on the anatomy and locomotion of the horse. l Seventeen years of his life were occupied in producing this statue. Leonardo's work was no doubt assisted by the fact that he was a good horseman. His studies are in the Royal Library, Windsor Castle. Leonardo records in his diary that his proportions in modelling were obtained by dividing the head into twelve degrees, the degrees into twelve points, each point into twelve minutes, the minutes into minims. and the minims into semi-minims. 2 This statement is not without interest, as no doubt it suggested the head being taken as the unit of measurement in the eighteenthcentury school of horse proportions. There are many drawings of Leonardo reproduced. Those dealing 1

2

"Leonardo da Vinci." Eugene Minitz. 1898. "Leonardo da Vinci." J. P. Richter. 1883.

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with the horse are not so numerous as one might have supposed from the number he made. That this universal genius studied anatomy seriously, and dived beneath the surface, is quite certain, as his plates dealing with the anatomy of man prove. Huth catalogues an Anatomy of the Horse by da Vinci, written about 1499, embodied in his Treatise on Painting, but I cannot trace it. The British Museum possesses Notes and Sketches on the Anatomy of the Horse by da Vinci, edited by Colonel Duhousset, Part I, published in Paris 1901.1 In these drawings the anatomy is not dealt with, only the surface of the body and the proportion thereof. Fig. 18 of the near fore leg is elaborately plotted into proportions by horizontal and vertical lines, with the values written against each. Fig. 28 gives an outline of the complete body, together with measurements such as we are familiar with in St. Bel's proportions of Eclipse. In fact, the chief value to us of the work of da Vinci is to show the origin of the system of measurement pursued so vigorously on the Continent in dealing with make and shape, but which has found no favour in this country. It will be remarked that not a single English writer appears in the fifteenth century. That we continued to import information qrom abroad seems undoubted, for many of the terms used in disease ,bore an Italian or French derivation, but we exported nothing. The reason is obvious,-there was nothing produced worthy of the name. It is desirable to learn the position of this country in veterinary matters at the end of the fifteenth century, and in furnishing a brief notice of the existing manuscripts of the period I feel that not only do they best state their own case, but they also afford an ,opportunity for drawing attention to material, the exist'e nce of which is probably unknown to any but those familiar with library catalogues. To the best of my belief none of these manuscripts has -previously received public notice.

Englz'sh Manuscripts of the Ftfteenth Century. In the British Museum there are several manuscripts bearing no name which can be assigned to the fifteenth century. MS. STOWE 982. This belongs to late in the fifteenth century. It is a book dealing with the preservation of the human health; it also has a veterinary portion, beginning at folio 13, and entitled ,« A Boke of kepyng Horsses, and for to know their sickness, and to do the leechcraft therefore." The work IS incomplete, and only extends over nine folios. MS. SLOANE 372. This manuscript is a collection of medical reci pes for horse and man. I n the index, at folio 13a, the veterinary matter is tabulated. The work begins by dealing with the handling of a colt, to tell the age, and the colours of horses. (I t is 'interesting to observe that the author regards a " coal" black horse and an iron grey as "naught.") Some sections follow on fattening a horse, the production of a white mark (a star ?), and the author is not ashamed to describe alterations to the teeth" to make a horse 1

RIll., No. Crach 4, p. 2.'\T

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seem young." 1 The diseases dealt with are of the common varietyringbone, mallanders, windgalls, shoulder strain, farcy, glanders, spavin, curb, injury to the stifle, pains (colic ?), eye trouble, lampas, strangles, "kemery," cordes (lymphangitis), "mourning of the chine," ., colt evil," stab (foot), cough, "purseyness" (broken wind), bots, trenches (colic?) "gigs," navel gall (sore back behind the saddle), blood letting. Some of the terms used by the writer will be best explained in the next part of this history in dealing with the sixteenth century. The manuscript is interesting as showing the state of veterinary knowledge in the fifteenth century in England. The writer would appear to have collected his information from a horse-dealing farmer. At the end of his list he tells us "This endeth . . . all the sickness that belongeth to any horse for these hath been proved." MS. SLOANE 686 is a collection of veterinary recipes. It is later than the above, but so closely resembles it that it would appear to be a copy. At folio 65 the following appears : " Here endethe the medicynes sothe and trewe, To hele aile hors sorys, both olde and newe, The whiche haue been proued by a man of pris, That hath heur writen in this same wise, To whom a lord of grete renowne, Gaf the hors sho with the crowne."

MS. SLOANE 1764 is entitled The Conditions of Horses. It appears to be mainly about colour, though it states that it is intended" For to know a horse and the properties that are best when young." The whole of this information is contained in three pages. Bound up with the above is a medic~l tract and a long treatise on materia medica,-a great contrast to the equine work. MS. SLOANE 3285 is on vellum in Old English. It begins: Medicines for all diseases of horses. Curb, strangles, spavin, and ringbone are mentioned in the order given; farcy follows, for which several charms are recommended. In fact, most of the diseases are treated by this method. For a horse which is "foundid" we are told to " Pray to God and Saint Apostles." There are several other affections, all treated in a manner suited to the Dark Ages. The substance of what, so far as I know, is the earliest veterinary manuscript of the fifteenth century in England, has been kindly furnished me by Mr E. F. Bosanquet, J.P., of Tunbridge Wells, from notes taken by him. The date of the manuscript is about 14 2 0. The instruction in treatment is deplorable. As an example I select six subjects, employing modern English. " For a founder of an horse ; "Take a handful of oats and bless them and say a pater noster for St. Hippolyte's soul, and pray to God and St. Hippolyte to save the horse, and 1 In the Bodleian is a fifteenth· century manuscript containing notes on horses. One is entitled "How to make a white star in a black horse's forehead." (A star was evidently a point of beauty. A manuscript in the same library, 200 years later, deals with the same subject.) Another note appears to be intendtd as a direction for reducing the height of a horse. It reads: "For to make a horse be he never so lofty in the stable to fall suddenly down." I have not seen the manuscript, but it reads as if methods for temporarily reducing height did not originate in modern times.

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take the holy candle and drop among the oats droppings with holy water, and give it the horse to eat and do so three days, he shall be whole." " For a horse that is restive: "Shave his head clean take globe· amaranth (r) salt and oysters without the shells, and tallow and honey, and savin, and beat them all together in a mortar and each day smear him well with." "For hoove [tympanites 7] of horse:"Take the black soot off a pot or pail of brass, and make it into powder, and wash the horse with the staling of a man all hot, and thrust the powder into the horse and it shall heal him." lItis by no means clear which end of the body is to receive the powder.] "For a pursey [broken wind] horse:"Make him fast three days and three nights; after that take an old fat mastiff and boil him down well and give him the broth to drink as hot as he can bear it." "For any manner of evil of horse:"Say this charm in the right ear of the horse and set your foot on the right foot and make a cross on his head and say' in nomine patris. Amen. Our Lord God was born and hanged on the rood, so surely as this is truth be the horse whole. Amen.' Say this on his four quarters before and behind and at the end of each limb and say a pater noster and take five eggs of a hen and cast them in his mouth all raw." " For the red [7] Farcy : "In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. Amen. St. Nycasy had a little venomous swelling that is called the farcy, he prayed to God, whoso in this name calls on the name of St. Nycasy shall never have this evil of the farcy. St. N ycasy pray for the sore + orpheus + neopheus + theopheus + tendula + cendula + diacoma + .1 I say this for you in the name of our Lord Father and Son and Holy Ghost and Saint Nycasy." In the Bodleian is a medical manuscript of the fifteenth century in Latin (Digby 29) containing a few veterinary notes. One is "If a horse be foundered." The treatment is curious; the feet are directed to be well cleaned out, and two roasted eggs, when cool enough to handle, are to be inserted into the soles. Over this is firmly imposed a dressing of the horse's own dung, and on the following day we are told the horse will be well and back at his work, "which you will most excellently perceive." The next entry is in English. It is a remedy "For ye payne of a horse." We are not told where the pain is situated. The remedy consists of a mixture of human urine, mustard, and oil, which are heated, and the part" anoynted " therewith, the result being that the horse" shall be hole." The third and last entry is in Latin, for a horse" Wounded by a bite," presumably from a dog. Not only is there a blank in the manuscript, but the Latin is obscure. The treatment appears to be a mixture of flour, cransops (?), and parsley, boiled together to the consistence of a glue, and applied until the part is healed. The previous matter has been merely manuscript notes on the treatment of disease. The next I have to notice is something more pretentious. It is a work on the veterinary art brought out about the end of the fifteenth century. The writer is unknown, but 1 Mr Bosanquet informs me this is a very potent exorcism. The sign of the cross is made between each word. All the exorcisms I have seen for disease appear to vary greatly in their wording.

FIG. 9. The first page, full size, of the Boke of Marchalsi, MS. Harleian 6398, Fifteenth Century.

(By permission of the Trustees of the British Musewm). This is the earliest known veterinary work in the English language. It begins: "The boke of marchalsi here it xal [shall] beginlle." A transcript of the metrical title is given at p. 305.

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from the terms used to indicate disease there can be no doubt that a foreign, perhaps a French, work furnished the nomenclature. 1 The text and style are certainly English. The work is entitled The Boke 0/ Marellalsi, and forms MS. Harleian 6398 in the British Museum. The title betrays its foreign origin, and I have come across nothing to indicate that the word "Marechal" was used in England, yet it certainly must have been in the time of the Normans. Before taking up the question of this most interesting manuscript, it is to be noted that a later copy exists in the British Museum, MS. Harleian 5086. This bears the title in the table of Contents of The Boke of Medycen for Horsses; in the text it is called The Booke of Marchaulsye. I am indebted to Mr F. Bullock for discovering the identity of these manuscripts and transcribing them. The manuscript bearing the number Har!' 5086 contains four tracts or books. One is on hunting, another on English verses, a third on diet for human beings, and a fourth, the veterinary manuscript. The latter extends over twenty-nine folios, and is in Early English handwriting. MS. 5086 is later than 6398, and contains some additional matter; there are also omissions. In the Bodleian Library at Oxford there is a fragment of a manuscript known as Ashmole 1437, attributed to the fourteenth or fifteenth century. J have not seen the fragment, but from the description given in the catalogue it is easy to identify it as part of the Boke of Marchalsi. Curiously enough it supplies a word left bla]1k in MS. 6398. The unknown author of The Boke of Marchalsi (MS. Harl. 6398) opens with a metrical title, which, as a matter of curiosity, I reproduce in modern English. " The book of' Marchalsi ' here it shall begin Ye that will with craft any honour win. Here ye may learn of horses great and small, How ye shall their maladies craftily heal. Also I will you tell out of what country, Ye may good horses choose best for to be ; Both in war and in peace without any fail, And how you shall them choose by their good entail. Of foals that be young without' lesing' [falsehood] N ow I will you tell of their good keeping. How ye shall them feed with hay and with corn, And wisely them keep that they be not lorn [lost] Till that they be of age, and mightful at need, A knight upon to ride at every doughty deed."

This title is shown in the original in fig. 9. As usual with this class of work, little or no system is followed. The man seems to have put down whatever occurred to his mind, and in this way the same disease may appear more than once. He begins, however, with the care and feeding of what he calls" steedfoals," which we take to be foals which it is hoped will in time grow into riding horses. He recommends that in the winter of their first year they should be housed, for the reason that they have little hair and a thin skin. He adds that they have long legs, so that the 1 1 suggest the nomenclature may have been taken from the" Menagier de Paris" (p. 295), or the treatise by de Villiers (p. 301) (in both of which works the same terms exist), as perhaps no English equivalent existed.

U

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animals stand high to the wind. A wide breast in a riding horse in those days was apparently a point of some importance, for the author deals with the question of how to increase the size of the chest. This was accomplished by making the stabled animals feed off the ground on a level with their feet. The idea apparently was that the foal was not to extend the forelegs as in the vrdinary act of grazing, for this is specifically prevented by the instructions which follow. I shall employ modern language. The writer says that woodwork should be laid down on the floor of the place where the animals are confined. This flooring is not to be continued up to the walls, but a space left between the two where the food is to be placed. It is obvious that to reach the food the foal has to spread apart his forelegs. Apparently this measure increased the width of the chest, owing to the increased development of the pectoral muscles. The author continues for some pages on the general question of feeding and management of horses. A very common method of imparting instruction, both before and after these days, was to conduct an imaginary conversation. There is a questioner in this book. Here are some of the queries asked at different places:"Master, "Master, "Master, "Master, "Master,

how shall a man know a horse of good entail?" why praisest thou so much the horse of the mountains?" among the Christian men be there no good horses?" why be these Lombardies so little to praise?" of which country be the best horses? "

When we come to diseases the question appears : "Master, how shall men know the malady?"

The following are the diseases dealt with:The Vives.-(Inflammation of the parotid gland or sore throat, but probably strangles. The term is as old as Ruffus.) The Forceus.-(Fostelle (Albert the Great), fonsel (de Villiers). Inflammation of the gums and lips.) The Barbeus.-(Barbule (de Villiers). Supposed disease under the tongue, the opening of the su~maxillary ducts being taken for an abnormal condition.) The Lampas.-(It adds very wisely that the horse is born with this malady. "It waxes above the roof of the mouth and hangs between the teeth." The word employed by Ruffus was lampasco; de Villiers called it lampas or lampast.) The Haue.-(The haw. It was removed for several centuries.) The Canker of the Mouth and wounds of the tongue. -(Probably the result of bit injuries.) The Ventayle.-(Short winded?) The Trenchelons.-(Colic (de Villiers).) The Water Bladders.-(Pleuritic effusion?) The Pursif. -(Pulsivus (Ruffus), poursif (de Villiers), broken wind. Apparently any affection of the wind was for centuries called "pursey" in England.) The Rate.-(Rait (de Villiers), enteritis.) The Lowe or worm in the back.-(Warbles?) The ilforos.-(Tumours? (Rusius).) The Moletis.-(Mollettes (de Villiers), wind galls. )

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The Fourmays.-(Forma (Ruffus), forme (de Villiers), ringbone.) The Mal de Saves.-(?) TheMallenndrts.-(Malandre(deVilliers).mallanders.) The S paveynzs.-(Spavanus (Russi us), espervaing (de Villiers), spavin.) The Safas.-(A nasal dischargt', perhaps catarrh.) The Glaundre.-(Glanders.) The Farsyj --'-( Farcy.) The Curtys.~(Curbs.) The Eschazlj'i"ng.-(Applied to the surface of the body, may mean gall (chafe), but eschafure also appears to be tympanites;) The Suros.-(Splints) The Galles.-(Any synovial enlargement of the limbs.) The Meults.-(Mules (de Villiers). A term applied for centuries to cracked heels or scurfy limbs.) Tlze Mandesanes.-(Probably from mal de l'ane,l ulceration of the coronet? 1t appears to be cracked or "greasy " heels.) The Royne.-(Rogne (de Villiers), mange.) The Vinecrache.-(The word "craces" occurs in a French MS.; it was apparently a contraction of crevaces, which was derived from the crepaC£a of Ruffus and Crescentius. It indicated cracks in the skin of the limbs, either from itchy legs, cracked heels, or other causes. Maul e says when the cracks were indurated they were called mules, see above. The prefix vine in the English word is not understood .)

In addition to the above, stranguillon, mourning of the chine, and foundering of a horse are mentioned. Only one of these terms requires explanation, i.e:, "mourning of the chine," a disease which continued to appear in veterinary works for some centuries: It was applied to all cases of chronic nasal discharge, and so embraced mainly glanders and ozoena. It was believed that the discharge came from the spinal marrow-orig inally a Byzantine blunder which no one appears to have attempted to correct. In French it was called mort-du-cMne, or death of the chain (i.e., the 'spinal marrow lying within the vertebra:: 2), and that became Anglicised into" mourning of the chine." The real interest attached to th e above list of diseases is that when Blundevill wrote his work in 1560 he employed several of the term s for disease which are given in the Boke of Mardzalsi, either for the reason that he had access to a m anuscript, or, what is more likely, the term s had by that time become part of the language of the stable. It is interesting to note th at the disease" safas" is described as resembling glanders, and it then adds, "but it is not, for by stews and by ointments may do it away briskly, and so men may not do with the glaunders." Probably catarrh is h ere referred to. A fter the account of the diseases comes the treatment. Medicines are prescribed for "safas," g landers, etc., but one curious remark occurs under farcy. Two varieties are mentioned. One" cometh in winter after St. Silas's Day and is of good amendment." 3 It 1 It is not known what special disease of the ass is r eferred to. Moule speaks of it as ulceration of the coronet, and gives th e equivalent employed by Ru~i us as " grisaria." This is probably the d isease still known in England as "grease," but I was not aware tha t the ass was specially subj ect to it. 2 'Ve are expressly told by one of th e first writers on a na tomy in France (Heroard) that the " eschine " extend. from the h ead to th e tail. 3 It will be noted in the Bosanquet MS. t ha t a " rd" e fa rcy is prescribed for .

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looks as if they recognised lymphangitis. The treatment for both varieties of farcy was mainly incantations-" Thou shalt charm him as thou hast done before to the other farsif." The process of questioning continues; for example, "Master, how may men know a horse that hath the Rate?" or, again, in dealing with the treatment of "lowe," "Master, how might men slay the worm?" "Master, tell me of galls beneath the knee, and of the mollet " (wind-galls). One question I cannot explain. The Master is asked for a medicine for the" fi ," "that some men call water bladders." "Fi," or "fy," is an old French term for growths of various kind s, and Moule says it was also applied to the" grapes" of tuberculosis. In the present manuscript it is specifically confined to "water bladders." I have hazarded the suggestion that pleuritic effusion is probably meant, the false membranes being regarded as bladders. The surgical side is not neglected. Lameness is dealt with; and we are told of" A sign when a horse limpeth on the feet," and" For halting of the shoulders or of the tendons." F omentations and ointments are prescribed for lameness with certain precautions, for the enquiring mind asks the question, "Master, why may men hurt a horse with too much anointing and bathin g? " I n the matter of wounds a dressing is presc ribed , but h~morrhage is arrested by means of a charm. The qu estions are asked: "How shall I know dead flesh in a wound?" "How may men do away dead flesh without burning ?" The work was evidently intended for instructional purposes. l In connection with wounds there is a prescription for" A plaster to do away - - flesh" (the scribe leaves the word blank).2 It is fortunate, for it enables us 450 years later to identify positively the fragment of the work now in the Bodleian (Ashmole 1437) as a part of the Boke of M archalsi. In this the matter appears as follows: "A playster to do awaye wykkid flesh e." Whether by wicked flesh we are· to understand exuberant g ranulations or an unhealthy wound cannot be said. The plaster which is given in 1437 is as follows , modern spelling being employed: "Take the white of an egg and quicksand, temper them together till it be thick. Amen, etc." (with these ver~es 3)_ " St. Archidec1in in his high seat A Rod of Rounsey [ash?] holds in his hand He lifted the hand if he sees meet, for His horse whi ch was sors [sick]." 4

What deplorable ignorance all this fifteenth - century material represents. One would have thought Jordan Ruffus had never lived. There was sufficient excuse for ignorance in England in the tenth century, and I shall presently show reasons why this country was behind Europe in general, and Italy in particular, at the close of the fifteenth century; but anything so barbarous or benighted as the veterinary art in England at the close of the Middle Ages is 1 This is also proved by the nature of the questions a~ked: " Master, how shall I know the mandesanes (grease ?). The pupil is further told that" with this malady" cometh a vein that men call the dead vein." . 2 This matter is omitted in the later MS. Har!. 5086. 3 The verses are omitted from MS. Har!' 5086. 4 The word "sorrance" was employed in this country as a veterinary term to indicate sickness for two centuries longer.

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unimaginable. No wonder that it took centuries to make up for insular isolation and prejudice, for self-satisfied confidence and conceit, and for gross general neglect on the part of those whose duty it was to stimulate learning. There were no kings, princes, or nobles in this country who cared one iota about improving the art,-a great contrast to what Italy, or even Spain, experienced. Hallam, as we shall see, stated that England at the close of the fifteenth century was 100 years behind Italy in culture and learning. The English MSS. noted above, which deal exclusively with horses, reveal a state of ignorance hundreds of years behind Italy, and comparable only to that existing at the darkest period of the Dark Ages. Our only redeeming point is that we probably knew more about sheep than any Continental nation, thanks, no doubt, to the Cistercian monks, whose influence I have yet to look at. The indispensable step in the development of any industry, art, or science is education. Up to the fifteenth century no educated man in England, so far as I know, ever gave veterinary matters any cOl)sideration. In the brief sketch given of the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries it must not be supposed that those few names mentioned represent all the workers who existed in Europe. There is ample evidence to show that many manuscripts are missing, and that there were men, distinguished practitioners of the art, of which we only incidentally learn the names. Of these and other scattered matters I propose to give an outline before concluding the centuries under notice. There lived in the thirteenth century DEMETRIUS PEPAGOMENUS, Physician to the Emperor at Constantinople, who wrote on the diseases of birds. Falconry in his day employed the leisure of the wealthy in all European countries. The birds, as we have mentioned elsewhere, were expensive and their diseases numerous. The Arabs had studied the quesion, but Demetrius brought his skilled mind and medical training to bear, and placed matters on a sound footing. Hecker 1 speaks of the work in enthusiastic terms and regards it as a model. The above Demetrius has been confused with one who wrote on the diseases of the dog, but the latter is regarded by Hecker as an inferior writer. PHIEMON, a Greek philosopher of the thirteenth century, has also been mentioned in connection with canine pathology. The BOOK OF KING DANCUS, written on the diseases of dogs and hawks in the thirteenth century, and republished as recently as 1883, is said to be mainly a compilation from Albert the Great. The book is of no value, and a footnote in the 1880 edition of William Tardif tells us that the author is fictitious. Moule, quoting Ollala, indicates a Spanish thirteenth-century manuscript entitled The Six Books of tlte Veterinary Art, to be found in the National Library at Madrid. The aut-hor, BROTHER BERNARDO, the Portuguese, states that a knowlege of seven arts is required for the practice of a veterinary calling. We may compress his seven into four, and, expressing them in modern terms, they comprise astronomy, botany, pathology, and the chemistry of the animal body. These are very advanced views, and unfortunately we know nothing of the work. A Portuguese MS; of the thirteenth century, a book of The Veterinary Art, was written at Lisbon in 1318 by MESTRE GIRALDES. The I

See "Veterinarian," Vol. VIII., 1835.

'3 10

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manuscript is catalogued by Huth, but I have not been able to trace any account of it. There are several anonymous manuscripts of the fourteenth century quoted by Moule, all on horses, one in French being on surgery. In the fifteenth century he refers to thirty-one manuscripts in different languages, all anonymous. These merely suggest the number which may have been lost. For example, he tells us of a Greek veterinary manuscript of the thirteenth century which was picked up during the Siege of Rhodes (1523). Who can say what treasures were lost when the library of the King of Hungary (Mathias Corvinus, 1458-90), containing, it is said, 50,000 volumes, was destroyed by the Turks in 1527, an event, as Hallam remarks, more fatal than the loss of the Alexandrian Library. A French veterinary writer of the fifteenth century, by name FESCHAL, would be unknown to us but for a manuscript orig1l1ally in the Huzard Library. Moule gives no information of this manuscript, which was probably sold when the collection was dispersed. In the manuscript of Dino, previously referred to (p. 294), he mentioned by name men of substance contemporary or prior to his time: Minuccio of Arezzo, Veterinarian to Guido, Bishop of Arezzo, whom he describes as an extremely expert professional man, educated and dignified; Andrea, a veterinarian, who could quote the chapter and page in Vegetius in which any given disease was described; Guglielmo of Florence, an extremely expert farrier, who prided himself on his workmanship bearing no mark of the hammer, and who would spend days in preparing surgical shoes; Vinziano of Guglia, a great orator, profusely and richly dressed, who unfortunately appears more in the light of an empiric in his treatment of lameness by deliberately injuring the opposite foot. Some names of the fifteenth century are handed down to us in a manuscript (N o. 12), preserved in the Magliabecchian Library of Florence, and referred to by Ercolani. It is a collection of works on the veterinary art by different writers, and appears to be representative of all that was taught at this time in Italy. It bears the title" The Book of Marshalry by many Authors and worthy Masters of the Art." The name of the collector is unknown. Ercolani does not place much faith in the names of the authors quoted, as he was well aware of the shameful manner in which manuscripts were fabricated by the scribes. Book I. is by Master Samuel of Egypt, described as a man of rare knowledge .. The title of the contents of his work suggests that he followed Ruffus. Book II. is by Isachar the Chaldean. Book IlL, by Alexander the Persian, appears to be a copy of Vegetius. Book IV. is by Manuel the Hebrew, of Constantinople. He treats of horses, mules, and asses; qualities, imperfections, vices, and infirmities. Ercolani regards this as a transcript from an Arabic codex. Book V. is by Master Joseph of Syria, teacher of Avicenna (the celebrated Arab medical authority of the eleventh century). This work also deals with bitting.l Book VI. contains the work of Jordanus Ruffus. Book VII. is by Christofano Albanese of Alexandria, prepared at the request of Ruberto, "King of Francia," a famous and worthy man. Book VIII. is by Master Cherubino, Veterinarian to the Queen of Hungary, described as an excellent man and learned in the art. Book IX. is composed "by the ·prudent man" Salmonach, Master of the Stables to the Sultan of Babylon. Book .X. is by Ipoc1as and Ipoda, companions in study with Avicenna in Syria. It deals with the complexion of diseases. Book XI. has no author, 1 Avicenna, curiously enough, is said to have been the first to mention the use of, stirrups, though they were known in England in the ninth century. C. H. Smith, "Naturalist's Library," Vol. XII.

GENER.AL ARTICLES.

3 11

and deals with bovine animals. Book XII. is by M~ster Antonio of Mantua, master of the veterinary art, and written at the request of the Marchioness - - - in the year 1415. Book XIII. is by Master Dalfino, Master of the Stables of the Grand Cairo, a man learned in veterinary art and other sciences. Book XIV. is by Master Joel of Brittany, Master of the Stables to the Archduke of Burgundy, and written in 1370. Book XV. is by Master Bruno, Veterinarian to Lorenzo the Magnificent, described as a very learned man in the veterinary art, who wrote in 1469, Book XVI. is by Master Antonio da Furli, after the veterinarian Galbona. Books XVII. and XVIII. are both by the famous and expert veterinarian, Master da Ghabbo. Whether all these authors ever existed in the flesh we shall never know, but assuming some of the manuscripts were fabricated, it shows the vast interest taken in veterinary matters in Italy during the two centuries under notice, though, as we have seen, no man of importance was produced. A

H.ETROSPECT FROM THE TENTH TO THE END OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY.

I have come to the end of the Middle Ages, and before taking up the next historical period it seems desirable, if we wish to be able to assign a true value to the work which has been examined, that it should be compared with other branches of human knowledge of the corresponding period. This is best effected by means of a general summary. The actual period examined in these pages is from the Byzantine writers to the end of the fifteenth century, roughly one thousand years. The Byzantine group, it is assumed, obtained their knowledge from Ancient Greece, a period which at its zenith was as remote from the Byzantine veterinarians as the present day is from the Norman Conquest. Four hundred years of lifelessness followed the work of Hierocles and Apsyrtus, succeeded by a partial resuscitation under Constantine, followed by a relapse for another 300 years, during which the knowledge passed into the hands of the Arabs, to be restored to Europe in the thirteenth century. During the 300 years following Constantine glimpses of the condition of the veterinary art have been given us. We have seen it in England in the fifth to the tenth century (see p. 140 et seq.), and our state in the latter, though bad, was no worse than in other countries not under the control of the Arabs. The TENTH CENTURY in Europe, outside Arab jurisdiction, was one of consummate ignorance in all branches. Nothing could be more deplorable than the state of letters, nothing could be deeper than the superstition. No progress could be expected at this time from a country like England, engaged in fighting for its very existence, a tale which most European states could also tell. During the ELEVENTH CENTURY tournaments were introduced, and rendered the horse more important in peace, while the practice of hawking, borrowed from the East during the fourth century, had taken so firm a hold of Europe that even kings did not consider it beneath their dignity to take up the study of disease in this bird, with the object of saving their national sport from obliteration. l 1 The literature of the Diseases of Hawks is remarkably large. MouIe has industriously collected all that was published during the centuries this sport was popular, and the references will be found in his work.

3 12

GENERAL ARTICLES.

In the eleventh century the capture of the Crown of England by a Norman king led to the Doomsday Survey, which gives information as to the numbers of live stock in the whole island, excepting the north of England. The numbers in this country had always been considerable. A writer at the end of the third century speaks of the innumerable multitude of domestic animals in Britain," some with their udders distended with milk, others loaded with fleeces of wool."1 The laws relating to stock under the Anglo-Saxon have been referred to, and doubtless were still in vogue, as the policy of William was to interfere as little as possible with local customs and management. Towards the end of the century there was a desire shown in Europe, and especially Italy, for intellectual pursuits, but the great event of the last years of the century was not study but fighting. The First Crusade was established, and this, as I shall suggest later, must have exerted a considerable influence on the knowledge of the horse and his management in disease, though England was not so markedly influenced by this religious movement as was France. Heusinger, in his brief review of the conditions of veterinary literature in Early Europe, draws attention to the fact that superstition lasted longer in France than in any other country. In Germany he points to the Physica of St. Hildegard 2 as indicating the position of veterinary medicine in the eleventh century, especially the treatment of epizootic diseases affecting all stock. The recommendations made by the Saint were to place scrapings of the same animal in water, and give it to those affected for nine days, by which time the plague would leave them. The use of fennel and aniseed were also advised. The IlIyrian iris administered with the food was employed to destroy the evil humours. Copper boiled in water was administered as a remedy for pain in the throat, and stinging nettles entered into the composition of a nasal douche for discharge in horses. The shell of a fish was used as a remedy for infirmities in oxen, and those of a tortoise in some diseases of the pig. It is evident that the eleventh was no improvement on the tenth century. In the TWELFTH CENTURY the study of the Latin language began. For centuries pure Latin had been nearly or entirely lost; in the eighth century it was spoken of as rustic Latin, a country patois corrupted in every manner. The difficulties of this rustic Latin have been met with in the work of Hermarius (p. I I I), a manuscript of the tenth century. Until Latin had been restored to its original purity it was impossible to liberate the knowledge contained in the works of the old authors, which were still jealously guarded in monasteries. The same with Greek scholarship. The language was unknown in Western Europe, even its very characters, and, until re-Iearned, nothing could be known of the wonderful literature of Greek civilisation and culture. The desire for intellectual pursuits, the germ of which originated in Italy, had spread. Oxford became a flourishing University, the study of law was taken up, a teacher from Bologna being imported. Over the south of France the love of verse-making spread widely, while "Annals of Commerce," 1805. D. Macpherson. St. Hildegard, 1098-1179, a German abbess who founded a monastery at Bingen on the Rhine in 1147. The "Physica," in four books. is mainly a work on human medicine and surgery. 'Ve have seen her prototype in England in the person of Juliana Barnes. ' 1

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general literature and the love of antiquities were the subjects of cultivation. In England agriculture was enormously improved. In 1128 the Cistercian monks arrived; they were devoted to agriculture and literature, and were great sheep farmers'! A predilection for sheep farming has ever been a conspicuous feature of the agriculture of England, and it is not difficult to understand how enormously these experts must have improved our naturally good flocks of sheep. Already wool was the staple agricultural product, and we produced, even at this early time, wool superior to any in Europe. The progress of agriculture must, however, have been greatly delayed by the constant struggle for supremacy between the kings and their nobles. Religious fanaticism also ran high; the recovery of Palestine was still the burning question, and this century saw two more Crusades. The Church was not idle in other directions, and perse· cutions for heresy were first established. Thinking men, unfortunately, devoted their lives to theological polemics instead of to progress. Agriculture in Italy was well carried on. We, learn from Crescentius all that Italy knew of this art. The farm buildings were good, and have undergone very little change since his day. In Palermo silk manufacture was established, which could not have been without its effect in finding funds for the subsequent development of knowledge. 2 The THIRTEENTH CENTURY was a period of great men. We are in the age of Frederick II. of Sicily, and have already learned what this extraordinary genius did in the resuscitation and development of the veterinary art. The work was now to be taken out of the hands of the Arabs, and the knowledge of the past presented to Europe. All branches of art, science, and philosophy advanced; it was the age of Dante, of Roger Bacon, and of the Encyclop;edists Albert the Great, Vincent of Beauvais, and Bartholomew Glanville. As to matters agricultural in England first-hand information is obtained from the hands of a practical man like Walter of Henley, whose management would be a credit to a twentieth-century farmer. He had doubtless learned his work through the labours of the Cistercian monks. It is said that at this time England clothed the world with wool, and this in spite of the struggles of the King with the Church and his nobles, and the wars with France and Scotland. Nevertheless, the wool industry received a serious set-back by an importation of sheep-pox into Northumberland from France in 1275. The disease raged for twenty-eight years, and completely destroyed the flocks in many parts of the country.s At this time the pride of men all over Europe was to be well provided with arms and horses. It was also an age of great religious 'reformation by a new Church army, the friars, who promoted learning of all kinds. The art of agriculture in Europe, as we have already seen in England, is indebted to the labours of these men, for they 1 England was long indebted to .the monks for food and clothing, and indirectly for commerce and prosperity. The Benedictines were cultivators of the soil, the Cistercians, the growers of wool. &e note by Dr Hook, Archbishop of Canterbury, in "St. Tudno," a short story of the olden times by Hildegard. 3 One cannot fail to be struck by the part which Sicily and Southern Italy played in the ·regeneration of veterinary knowledge. 2 See "Walsingham's History," p. 46 ; quoted by Macpherson, "Annals of Commerce."

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showed what could be done with the waste lands granted them as a concession. The influence of the Church in furthering veterinary knowledge at this period, both by its high officials and its working classes, has already received notice in these pages .. The thirst fOr general information became so great that it lead to the ignorant and slovenly copying of manuscripts in Italy, the copyist correcting in accordance with his personal views. It is said that in this respect thirteenth - century manuscripts a.re worse than any others, and we have seen the manner in which the ancient veterinary manuscripts suffered at his hands. It is convenient here to consider the influence of the Crusades on the spread of veterinary knowledge. The crusaders took with them all the wealth they could gather; they impoverished Western Europe apart from the high roads to Italy and Constantinople. To these, and especially Italy, they proved an immense source of income for food, clothing, and munitions of war, including shipping; and money is ever the best stimulus to education. The armies marched across Europe, and either crossed the Bosphorous from Constantinople or the Mediterranean from Italy. They travelled almost the length of Italy to Salerno, north of Calabria and other ports, where they embarked for Palestine. The returning remnant took the same course. I t is easy to imagine how impressed these men must have been been by the horsemanship of the Arabs and the handy behaviour of their horses under the saddle. The fifth crusade occurred under Frederick 11., the very man most interested in these and allied questions. The whole eight crusades lasted 190 years, 1095-1291, a time more than sufficient to have aroused general interest in horse matters, for the fighting in Palestine was largely a mounted combat. Italy, as we have seen, offered a road along which was concentrated an immense force gathered from various points of Europe. Losses of horses during the march must have necessitated replacement prior to embarkation. Losses in Palestine and at sea must have imparted a vast amount of practical information, and further, have necessitated purchases before the remnants could set out for home.! If we are to judge by the state of affairs existing to-day, when a country becomes the main artery for armed forces and horses from everywhere, Italy must have had immense experience in disease. We have seen that the diseases of to-day were also those of 1600 years ago, and barely half that period separates us from the Crusades. Anthrax and cattle plague, if we are to judge from the available records, were a veritable scourge in Europe,2 and the troops in Palestine also suffered severely from the former, while glanders was always present. Amongst thoughtful men it is impossible to believe that no attention was paid to matters which threatened to wreck any military sGheme, and we can readily imagine that both Arabic, and especially Greek, literature would be searched for such advice as it could afford. Frederick was in touch with it, and he must have known that one of 1 C. H. Smith, "Naturalist's Library," Vol. XII., says the survivors of the Crusades did not bring back their horses with them. In that case they would all have required to be remounted on landing in Europe. 2 See Heusinger, Vol. I., p. 649; Vol. II., p. 150.

GENERAL ARTICLES.

his predecessors, Roger II. (d. 1154), caused the work of the Indian "I ppocras" to be translated by Moses of Palermo. Such information, though far from complete, was available, and in this way I h.rve assumed, against· previously expressed opinion, that Ruffus got his start. The Crusades, we may safely say, played an important part in determining Italy as the birthpiace of veterinary regeneration. It is also well known that they were the means of introducing to Europe the arts, science, and manufactures of the East. The growth of veterinary knowledge in the thirteenth centuryfrom Ruffus to Rusius-has already been traced in these pages, and is highly satisfactory in kind. The same, unfortunately, cannot be said of the two succeeding centuries. The Frederick touch was wanting. The FOURTEENTH CENTURY has been described as the age of chivalry. Chivalry took definite shape in the middle of the thirteenth century during the period of the Crusades. It assured a continued interest being taken in the horse during times of peace. The crusaders had learned much from their implacable though frequently chivalrous foes in Palestine, and that they learned something of the horse they rode has already been suggested. Chivalry favoured education. The sons of gentlemen were trained to arms and the art of horsemanship from early age; horsemanship has more than once proved a stimulus to veterinary education. It must, however, be remarked that of the two nations least profoundly influenced by chivalry Italy took the foremost place in veterinary matters, while England persistently neglected them. Chivalry lasted until gun-powder displaced it 'at the end of the century under consideration. The fourteenth century, in contrast to the thirteenth, was an age of great magnificence and luxury in England, so much so that sumptuary laws had to be introduced. The gentry paid more attention to agriculture, and the wool industry was still further advanced by the introduction of Fl.emish weavers who were invited by Ed ward II I. to come and settle in this country. I t is interesting to note that the inducements held out to these men were plenty of good living and desirable matrimonial alliances. Commerce under this King made its first start. Some sheep were exported to Spain as a gift to improve the native breed, while in return the Spaniards presented the King with a jennet, a breed of horse greatly admired in this country} Yet the century historically is not one in which prog-ress could be expected. Struggles between the King and his barons were perennial. The Hundred Years' War with France existed. Civil war, pestilence,2 followed by a reign of revolution; are not conducive to study or literary progress. In Italy it was otherwise. 1 See l\1acpherson, 0p. cit. This was by no means the first gift of horses from the Continent to England. Athelstan had recei"ed "running horses "from the German Emperor in 938 A.D. in order to court his alliance. So wide was the intercourse with foreigners which Scotland enjoyed that their king in 1121 possessed the luxury of an Arah horl!e. In the thirteenth century King John, who had a passion for horses, imported Lombard horses into England and heavy horses from Flanders. At this time there were many Spanish horses in the army.of Scotland, which was well mounted. In the fourteenth century Edward II. sent to Lombardy and Spain to buy horses, and he also obtained six from Sicily. German dealers were allowed to import horses bnt not to Scotland. The tendency for the price of horses to rise was checked by Royal Decree. (l\1acpberson, also C. H. Smith,op. cit.). 2 In 1348 the mortality from "Black Death" was so great that the flocks and herds were left to wllnder through the fields fOf want of IIttendants. (l\1acpherson).

GENERAL .\ RTTCLES.

About the middle of the century there was great zeal for the restoratio41: of ancient learning. It was the age of Petrarch, the saviour of ancient manuscripts, a man described by Hallam as one of the morning stars of modern literature. He gave purity and elegance to the Italian language, and was the first real restorer of letters. Petrarch learned Greek, Boccacio followed, and by the end of the century it was taught at Florence. Thus, after being moribund for 700 years, the language was restored. With this the flood-gates of Greek literature were opened; nevertheless nearly a century and a half were to elapse before the Hippz"atrika was rendered available to Europe. Before the end of the fourteenth century pure Latinity had also been restored. The art of medicine was still being earnestly prosecuted by the Arabs, who, as we have seen, based their practice on that of Ancient Greece. Anatomy was taken up by the Italians, and human dissection for the first time practised. Mundinus of Bologna published his anatomy, which remained a standard work for 200 years, and doubtless influenced the study of veterinary anatomy by Agostino Columbre in the succeeding century. The English language, the last to be formed in Europe,l was spoken by the people, but seldom written until the middle of the century, when Chaucer showed its capabilities as an organ of expression. Until it became a written language it was obviously impossible to enlighten the masses in veterinary matters, even had a desire for knowledge existed. The FIFTEENTH CENTURY in England was a miserable record, consisting of rebellions. war with France, and civil wars of the usually bitter character. As a result there was very little if any progress made in general literature. At this time, Hallam says, an English gentleman of the first class could manage to read and write, but the country was a hundred years behind the culture and learning of Italy. This may be exemplified by the violent opposition to the introduction of Greek into Oxford, and the barbarisms existing among the few who wrote Latin. In Italy, on the other hand, scholars were hard at work, libraries multiplied, and the condition of Florence was brilliant. The veterinary art in all countries was in a bad way. There is no evidence of progress during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, not excluding Italy. France, Germany, Spain, and England were in a deplorable condition; 2 there is less excuse for Spain as she had Arab sources available. Looking back on the record of the work of these two centuries, a summary of which it has been my object to produce, it is apparent that no progress above mediocrity was made, and that the majority of writers were contented to copy Ruffus or his mouthpiece, Rusius. One cannot fail to notice the frequency with which kings and princes actively interested themselves in promoting the veterinary art, for already they had realised it had become an economic necessity. The end of ignorance, however, was at hand. Printing was introThe French language was formed in the tenth century. Some details of the condition of the veterinary art in England at the close of the fifteenth century are given at p. 302. . 1

2

GENKRAL ARTICLES.

duced at the middle of the century, and twenty years later appeared in England. Italy at once grasped the importance of the new invention, and Hallam tells us that of the 10,000 books and pamphlets printed 011 all subjects, mainly theological, in Europe before the end of the century, half were produced in Italy, Paris printed 750, and England but 140. Germany now showed signs of a literary spirit. Europe was awake, the Middle Ages had closed, and the prospects of culture in the future were bright and hopeful. (To be continued.)

SCRAPIE: AN OBSCURE DISEASE OF SHEEP.l

By Sir STEWART STOCKMAN, M.R.C.V.S., London. THE term" scrape" or "scrapie" is a popular one which has been applied to a disease of sheep on the borders of England and Scotland. Until recently very little has been done in the way of investigating it, one of the reasons being that the existence of the disease has been kept secret by many of those who have been unfortunate enough to get it amongst their stock. Recently, however, the disease has been more openly talked about, and is said to be on the increase, which probably explains the partial abandonment of secrecy. To many who are now speaking about it, it is known as the" new disease," but it is incorrect to call it by this name, since its existence on certain farms can be traced back for a considerable number of years.

History of the Disease. The earliest information about the disease under the name of scrapie which I have been able to acquire dates back to 1853. At that time there was a noted flock of half-bred Cheviot and Leicester sheep at the farm" A" near Yetholm. The owner held an annual sale of his stock, and the neighbouring farmers came to buy both ewes and tups. About the year 1853 a farmer, who was then at farm "B" in the neighbourhood, bought two tups at the" A " sale and let them run with his ewes. The information available is that the" B" ewes did not contract the disease, but in 1856 it appeared in the stock got by these tups, that is to say, when the progeny was about two years old. It is well known that the disease seldom appears in an animal under the age of from eighteen months to two years, and this of course, which wiII be referred to later, could explain the lapse of time between the purchase of the tups, which were believed to have brought the disease, and the appearance of scrapie on the other farm. For several years the losses in the second flock continued, averaging about fifty sheep a year out of a stock of about 1200-4' I per cent. 1

A Leetureilelivered before the Yarrow aud Ettrick Pastoral Society, 23rd October 1913.