282 EPITOME OF EVIDEXCE ON PLEURO-PNEUMONIA. 



took the temperature, and found it 104^ "2. I went back when 

 she was in a normal condition, and found it to be 101°. She 

 was back to her milking. I heard nothing more about her till 

 twelve weeks after, and I began to dread the disease. I made 

 an examination about once a week regularly, and then she had 

 a calf ; she was in contact with those other cows for only four 

 days previous to being insulated, and I believe that she communi- 

 cated this disease without it being seen for four months. I be- 

 lieve that contamination is to be got by direct breathing. There 

 was no other cow in the place that had been brought in for two 

 years. When I came to slaughter all the herd, the owner said, 

 " You will not kill the cow in the stable ? " I said, " We will 

 kill her ;" and the post-mortem examination showed about 2 

 inches of a red encysted mark. She had got through the disease, 

 being a strong, healthy cow ; she had never been inoculated. 



Mr Andrew Spreull, F.R.C.V.S., Dundee, called in, 



and examined. 



I think it is scarcely possible to cany the infection of pleuro- 

 pneumonia by litter. I do not even think it could possibly 

 be carried by giving food that had been presented to a diseased 

 animal and breathed over, and I know that experiments have 

 been carried out by Dr Sanderson and Professor Duguid, which 

 go to prove that that ds so ; my experience entirely corroborates 

 that view. I think that cleansing and disinfecting is a matter 

 of very secondary importance ; but I would go on with them, as 

 they will do no harm. I do not think it is worth while stopping 

 the disinfecting and cleansing, as the expense is not great, 

 and if it be an error it is on the safe side. An animal may 

 have lived through the disease, although it is not apparently 

 affected. These cases crop up occasionally. Animals that have 

 had the disease in a mild form and are recovered, have a pleuro- 

 jDneumonia cyst in their lung, and may communicate it to others 

 Avith which they are brought into contact. If you inoculate the 

 animals in good time, you will neither have the disease itself, 

 nor this encystment — I mean, if you do it before they are 

 actually diseased, before the expiry of the incubative stage. 

 I would not inoculate all young stock. I would inoculate in 

 every outbreak, as soon as it occurred, but not till then. You 

 cannot be thoroughly satisfied that the animals have not got 

 the disease in a latent form, but you can be the next thing to 

 it. You can do so by testing the temperature, by auscultation, 

 percussion, and in a variety of ways, I cannot say that I 

 would be absolutely certain in every case, but I would be as 

 certain as it is possible for any man to be. Stamping out 

 is a certainty. You can always kill the disease by killing out the 



