Suggestions for observations on the influence of cholera and other epidemic poisons, on the lower animals / by W. Lauder Lindsay.

  • William Lauder Lindsay
Date:
1857
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Suggestions for observations on the influence of cholera and other epidemic poisons, on the lower animals / by W. Lauder Lindsay. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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

    13/20 page 11
    III. Contagiousness or transmissibility of the disease, wliether sporadic or epizootic. a. Circumstances essential or accessory—favourable or unfavourable— thereto, or the laws whereby it is regulated. h. Is it transmissible not only between different individuals of the lower animals, but between different species and genera, as has been fre- quently observed in different parts of Central Europe? What are these species and genera; and under what circumstances does the transmission of tlie disease occur % c. Is it transmissible from different species and genera of the lower animals to man, or fromJiim to them ; and, if so, by and between what species or genera, and under what circumstances ? As bearing on this point, it will be advisable to keep in mind, on the one hand, other diseases which are communicated fro«i the lower animals to man—such as glanders from the horse— hydrophobia from the dog—scabies from the lion ;—and, on the other, cases mentioned by various experimenters and observers of cholera being transmitted from man to the dog. This is a problem of special interest, which only an array of well established facts can satisfactorily solve. Hitherto, the mere idea, that human diseases can be communicated to the inferior animals, has met with general opposition ; but the point appears never to have been carefully investigated. d. Comparative toxic action of the effluvia from the skin and lungs, and of tlie evacuations. Here it may be borne in mind that, in other diseases of the lower animals, as of the dog, the effluvia from the skin are highly poisonous, constituting the media of contagion, c. Comparative frequency of the seizure from contact with diseased ani- mals of the same or different species or genei-a, and witia man. f. Effects of inoculation on veterinary surgeons, butchers, and others, or the results of wounds received while dissecting or operating on the bodies of animals dying or dead of cholera or choleroid diseases. g. Comparative immunity of persons constantly in contact with diseased animals, as grooms, dog-breakers, veterinary surgeons: the general or special effects on their health. IV. Is the poison solely aerial; to what height does it pervade the atmos- phere ; and is it most concentrated and most deadly in the stratum of air immediately resting on the earth's surface? What bearing on these points have the following circumstances ? a. The seizure of fisli and crustaceans. b. The great susceptibility of birds to be aflected by cholera. c. The frequent absence of swallows, and other migratory birds, from tainted districts. It is important to note the relation of the diffusion of cholera to the geographical distribution of animal species and genera. V. Liability of animals labouring under other diseases to be affected by, or exempt from, tlie cholera poison. Co-e.\istcnce of cholera with other,' and what other, diseases; how far immunity produced,or the milder disease modi- fied, by the presence of the graver one ? VI. Predisposition. o. Effects of domesticity or civilization—one of the most powerful pre- disposing causes of disease in the lower animals. 1. Food—excessive quantity or improper ([uality. Habitual ex- cess of vegetable food is a powerful predisposing cause of intes- tinal diseases ; hence the groat susceptibility of ruminants to be affected with lesions of the gastro-intestinal system, and to
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3