Abstract
This article presents the findings of a study showing that rinderpest and anthrax were rife among cattle in eighteenth century Sweden and Finland. These diseases, which caused a widespread loss of animals, were the scourge of owners, medical practitioners and the authorities alike. The study also shows that the epizootic legislation and disease control that evolved at government level was influenced by the particular characteristics of rinderpest and anthrax. Previous research has identified the endemic nature of rinderpest and its far-reaching consequences for society. Yet major outbreaks of anthrax, and the degree to which the disease influenced the development of State epizootic control, were previously unknown. The study uses the perspectives of cultural history and the history of veterinary medicine, a wide range of historical sources, and a method of text analysis for making retrospective diagnoses.
 In this article the findings are compared with the results of studies of eighteenth century cattle disease and epizootic control in other European countries. Similarities and differences in theoretical perspectives and research methods are identified. Here the use of retrospective diagnosis in the history of veterinary medicine is discussed in particular.
Highlights
This article presents the findings of a study showing that rinderpest and anthrax were rife among cattle in eighteenth century Sweden and Finland
The study shows that the epizootic legislation and disease control that evolved at government level was influenced by the particular characteristics of rinderpest and anthrax
Scholars have long been aware that infectious, deadly diseases were rife among cattle in eighteenth century Europe, which resulted in State-led epizootic control in many countries
Summary
Diagnostic methods have been discussed within veterinary medical history too, but there has not been especially copious research in this particular area.[21]. On the basis of the modern diagnosis of rinderpest and its major symptoms, a veterinary description of rinderpest has been produced in relation to the most important differential diagnoses of the disease These are malignant catarrhal fever, bluetongue disease, foot-and-mouth disease and mucosal disease, which is a form of bovine virus diarrhoea.[25] Historians have noted malignant pulmonary disease and anthrax as historically possible differential diagnoses.[26] By systematically comparing the differential diagnoses, the most important differentiating characteristics of rinderpest are revealed. In addition to general disease symptoms in cattle, such as pyrexia, anorexia, reduced rumination, reduced milk production, depression and poor general condition, the typical characteristics of the disease described above have been used to identify and differentiate anthrax.[28]
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