Commissioner of Agriculture 271 



eruption on the three natural points of election (mouth, teats and 

 feet), no matter at what part of the body the virus is inoculated, 

 and from the observations of Loenier and Frosch, that the most 

 successful inoculations were those made directly into the circu- 

 lating blood or peritoneal cavity. Pregnant females have infected 

 their unborn offspring (Galtier). The virulence of the blood was, 

 however, definitely proved by Bussienus and Siegal who success- 

 fully inoculated three calves and a pig with the blood of a calf 

 suffering from foot and mouth disease. It follows that the carcass, 

 blood and other products of an animal in the height of the disease, 

 are possible sources of contagion. 



Inoculation with the lymph of the vesicles was a failure if it 

 had been first dried for 24 hours at a temperature of 31°C 

 (88° F. ), which is 12° to 15° below the normal temperature of 

 cattle, sheep, or swine. It, however, retained its virulence for 

 nine months when exposed to a temperature of 0°C (32°F.). In 

 other words, a high summer temperature disinfects, while a freez- 

 ing temperature preserves the virulence indefinitely (Loefflcr and 

 Frosch). Loefflcr and Frosch further found that it did not pene- 

 trate through the perfectly sound, unbroken skin, while it was 

 innoculatcd with certainty in any susceptible animal, in a wound, 

 abrasion, chap, crack or scratch. 



Hess of Berne tells that with 370 cattle affected in Bernese 

 Oberland, in the autumn of 1898, 7 communicated the disease 

 during the following winter, and argues that recovered cattle 

 should be secluded in quarantine for at least 5 months. It is 

 unfortunate that he has given neither dates nor conditions, since 

 as it stands the observation is of little or no value. Perhaps the 

 interval did not exceed a month or two ; perhaps, in a total of 

 nearly 400 cattle, there were a number of cases in succession that 

 would stretch over several months ; again, perhaps on the elevated 

 Oberland the virus was frozen up, in which case a loss of virulence 

 might easily have been delayed for a year. 



In the mild, open winters of Great Britain my experience was 

 quite contrary to that of Hess. It was a common or constant 

 occurrence that feeding cattle bought at the great autumnal fairs 

 carried with them the infection of foot and mouth disease and 

 infected all cattle and swine on the promises to which they were 



