PEEYEXTION OF PLEUEO-PXEUMU^'IA. 183 



which have been rcade by authorities in our own country. 

 Professor Gamgee* says: — 



" The practice of inoculation I have to condemn from experi- 

 ence. It does some good, but a great deal more harm. The 

 good is only such as may follow the use of setons, and is 

 obtained at the cost of a certain percentage of deaths, and cases 

 of gangrene of the tail. It is not an infallible preservative, but 

 very far from this, and it simply tends to keep up the disease 

 in the country by turning the attention of people from the true 

 means of prevention." At page 614 the Professor continues : — 

 " The all important question — ' is inoculation of seivice ? ' — 

 has, in my opinion, been solved. I cannot deal, in the pages 

 of this little work, with the large amount of conflicting evidence 

 on the subject. The Belgian and Prench commissions, Reviglio's, 

 Simond's, Hering's, my own observations, and those of many 

 more, prove that a certain degree of preservative influence is 

 derived by the process of inoculation. It does not arrest the 

 progress of the disease. It certainly diminishes it to some 

 extent, though often very slightly so, the number of cases, and 

 particularly that of the 'severe ones. This effect has often been 

 ascribed to a derivative action, independently of any specific 

 influence, and indeed similar to that of introducing setons in 

 the dew-lap. I cannot speak very favourably of the latter 

 process, as indeed I cannot recommend that of the inoculation 

 of cattle. In London some dairymen have considerable faith 

 in this operation, though its effect is uncertain, and its modus 

 operandi a mystery. I should counsel the keeper of dairy stock 

 to select his own animals from healthy herds, and strictly 

 avoid public markets. In many instances, to my knowledge, 

 this has been sufficient to prevent the invasion of this terrible 

 disease." 



The conclusions of Professor Simonds, although written in 

 1853, retain all their freshness, and will be read with interest 

 as though pertainiug to the most recent experiments. For this 

 reason they are produced last in order. 



" 1. That inoculation made by superficial punctures and 

 simple erasions of the skin invariably fail to produce any local 

 inflammatory action, being the reverse of the case with regard 

 to vaccine disease, small-pox, and other specific afiections, of 

 which it is an indication of success. 



" 2. That the employment of fresh serous fluid, and a cleanly 

 made but, small incision, during the continuance of a low 

 temperature, will almost always fail to produce even the slightest 

 amount of inflammation. 



" o. That deep punctures are followed by the ordinary 



* " Our Domestic Animals in Healtli and Disease," pages 61C-31i. 



