INOCULATION AS A PREVENTION OF PLEURO-PNEUMONIA. 21 



Since the day upon which I commenced publicly inoculating 

 (1st Feb. 1878) down to the present time I have inoculated in 

 ninety-six different places and byres. Of these, at the time of 

 operation, eighty-nine were infected, the remaining seven being 

 clean — the number of cattle inoculated being within a few of 

 2700. The mortality during the first year was five per cent., 

 but owing to the greater precautions taken, arising out of a 

 better knowledge of what is required, my mortality since has 

 barely averaged two per cent. — a very low average considering 

 that the vast majority of the cattle have been milkers, the class 

 with which there is most risk. Let any one possessing any 

 knowledge of the disease ask himself how many of those cattle 

 would have been saved under the old regir/u. I assert that 

 inoculation drove the disease out of every place where it was put 

 in force — starved it out, in fact, and in point of comparison, in a 

 way superior to any mode of doing so under the working of the 

 Contagious Diseases (Animals) Act. If proof of this be required, 

 it can be abundantly obtained from my clients, the dairymen of 

 Edinburgh and elsewhere, and from many others, some of whom 

 were not clients, but witnesses of the work. 



I cannot leave this part of the subject without expressing a 

 hope (I do so modestly) that if at any time the Government of 

 tliis country desires to obtain reliable information as to the 

 value of inoculation, they may come here for it. I can promise 

 they will not go away empty-handed. 



Precautions to he observed in carrying out the Operation. 



In whatever way the operation be performed, its success and 

 value depends largely upon the amount of painstaking intelli- 

 X^ence and care which is brou^dit to bear in the workincj out of 

 detail, and in the amount of attention which is paid to the con- 

 ditions and circumstances surroundini^' each outbreak. These 

 conditions I have found may, for convenience, be divided into 

 two sets — 



1. Those existing outside the animal. 



2. Tliose existing witliin tlie animal. 



In the case of tlie first of these, the most important is the 

 temperature and kind of weather prevalent and likely to be at 

 tlie time of operation. In this country, from the month of April 

 to the month of September, the operation may be proceeded 

 with very little risk indeed, either outside or inside. Bullocks, 

 and young stock especially, need never be housed, unless under 

 sudden and unusual circumstances of very severe and wet 

 weather. Cows, however, in my experience, are always better 

 housed, especially if they are milkers. During the cold winter 

 months there should be in the case of cows no exception to this 



