THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



129 



" (a) At its outbreak in places which have hitherto been free 

 from it. 



" (6) AVheii the disease is well marked lu its characters, 

 symptoms, and duration, or by its violence and destructive- 

 ness, and when also the police measures which liave been 

 already taken have been without effect in checking its progress, 

 so that there is a probability that either the malady by the 

 slaughtering may be suddenly brought to an cud, or that its 

 further spreading may be entirely or partly prevented, to enable 

 the communication between healthy and diseased districts to 

 be speedily re-estaljlished. 



" (c) The ultimate decision as to whether the slaughtering 

 shall be enforced when the certainty of the presence of the 

 rinderpest has been decided on, and to what extent it shall be 

 carried, is to depend on the commissioners who are appointed for 

 that purpose, who, after having been duly informed ot the out- 

 break of the rinderpest or other disease of a suspicious nature, 

 or the spreading of the same in the infected communes, shall, 

 conjointly with those who are charged with the carrying out 

 of the veterinsry police regulations, and also, if possib'e, with 

 a meilical officer acquainted with the disease, and two sworn 

 valuers, taken from the commune, who are well acquainted with 

 the price of farm stock, first value the cattle which it has been 

 decided to slaughter. A special report is to be made of ti.e pro- 

 ceedings to the competent autliorities. 



" 3rd. With reference to the question by whom and in what 

 manner the estimated value is to be paid to the owner of the 

 condemned cattle, and whether it is ultimately to be paid by 

 an order on the Treasury from the police authority of the dis- 

 trict — 



" (a) The owner will receive the full value ordered by the 

 authorities, after deduction has been made for the parts that 

 may be used, as determined by competent authorities, for the 

 cattle which have been killed en suspicion under rule 1, with 

 a view to ascertain if the disease was the rinderpest or not. 



" (6) For those cattle where no doubt exists as to the nature 

 of the disease being the rinderpest, and in those districts in 

 the Austrian dominions which are known to be infected. And 

 when the slaughtering shall have been ordered by tlie autho- 

 rities, the owner shall only be entitled to receive the amount 

 of their value on condition that he has not nesjlected any of 

 the precautions which are prescribed by the veterinary police, 

 and thereby contributed to the spread of the infection among 

 his stock, or has in no way concealed the disease after the out- 

 break on his premises. 



" (c) Under the same circumstances of the existence of the 

 disease, the sum named by the valuers, after deducting the 

 worth of ihe parts allowed to be used, such as the skin and 

 horns, when properly disinfected, will be paid for every head 

 of cattle killed by order of the commissioners. 



" ((/) With a view to facilitate those proprietors whose 

 cattle have been slaughtered by the commission for the pur- 

 pose of ascertaining the nature of the disease, and when it has 

 been proved not to be the rinderpest, in replacing their cattle 

 speedily, the district authorities are empoweied to (^rder the 

 payment to be made out of the district funds, and to duly in- 

 form the superior authorities of the same. 



" 4th. To estimate the true value of the cattle ordered to be 

 slaughtered by the commission, the local authorities as well as 

 the sworn valuers will have to take into consideration the 

 market value, age, and breed of every animal submitted to 

 them. 



"5th. With regard to the cattle which have been kdled as 

 suspected, but which are foand on a seclio cadaveris to he 

 perfectly free from the disease, the flesh of the same may be 

 used for food, and the hide, horns, and tallow as articles of 

 commerce. Of those, also, which were known to be affected 

 by the pest, or were discovered to be diseased on the making 

 of the post morttm examination, the horns, fat, and hides may 

 be used for commercial purposes, but only on tiie regulations 

 framed for that end being strictly complied with ; and it is 

 ordained that in these instances the parts shall be valued, and 

 deduction made from the amount to be paid to the projrittors. 



"The attention of the local authorities and veterinary police 

 is specially directed to this point. 



" Lastly. It is ordered that these fresh directions of the dis- 

 trict government upon the necessity of the slaughttrirg of 

 cattle to prevent the spreading of the rinderpest be in force 

 fiom the present time. 



" Lemberg, 17th September, 1850." 



Immediately on the receipt of these official documents 

 and our letters of introduction from Count Clam 

 Martinitz, we set forward on our journey to Neu Sandec 

 via Bochnia, passing over the great rock-salt formation 

 of Austro-Poland in company with Professor Nicklas, 

 of the Veterinary School at Munich, whom we had 

 previously met at Berlin, and who had been sent by the 

 authorities of Bavaria on a similar mis>^ion to our- 

 selves. 



Arriving at Neu Sandec, our first business was to 

 wait upon the President of the department, who referred 

 us to the district physician for the latest particulars as 

 to the precise location of the disease, as the week's re- 

 port had not yet reached his office. 



It may be asw ell here to observe that in this part of 

 the Austrian dominions there are no scientifically edu- 

 cated veterinary surgeons ; and that from the frequent 

 occurrence of epizootic diseases, both physicians and 

 surgeons are appointed by the Government as inspectors 

 of the health of cattle, and to act also as commissioners 

 of veterinary sanitary police during the prevalence of 

 these affections. To fit them for this purpose, they have 

 to make this class of maladies their special study, and 

 subsequently to undergo an examination as a test of 

 their competency. 



By the district physician we were placed in communi- 

 cation with M. Carl Zankel, surgeon and commissioner 

 of Alt Sandec, who received instructions to accompany 

 us forthwith to the different places where Ihe disease ex- 

 isted ; and to proceed, in the first instance, to a village 

 called Ludowica, lying at the foot of the high range of 

 the Carpathian mountains, where a case had just oc- 

 curred, and which it was hoped that we might succeed 

 in seeing before the animal was destroyed. 



On reaching Ludowica we were at once admitted 

 within the cordon, when we found that this animal, to- 

 gether with nine others which had been exposed to the 

 infection with him, had already been slaughtered and 

 buried. An application was made to have the bodies 

 disinterred, but which for want of due formality was not 

 complied with — Ludowica, in fact, being outside the 

 circle of Alt Sandec, to which M. Zankel was attached, 

 and we not having with us a sjjecial order from the Pre- 

 sident to the authorities of the circle we were now in for 

 the disinterment. 



The slaughtering had swept away all the animals in the 

 village which were known to have been exposed to the 

 infectious influence of the disease, and consequently we 

 pressed forward through the mountain passes, which 

 here chiefly consisted of the partially dried beds of rivers 

 and streams, to another village called Zabrzez. It was 

 somewhat singular that at Zabrzez we came upon the 

 identical farm where the malady had first showtd itself 

 in this locality, and saw on the premises four of the 

 original Steppe oxen by which it had been brought. 

 Three of these had been the subjects of the disease, but 

 had recovered, and the fourth had resisted the contagion 

 throughout, as was believed, because he had before been 

 affected. They were tied up to fatten, and had every 

 appearance of perfect health, having no trace of disease 

 of any kind about them. 



Besides these, there were nine other animals on the 

 farm in quarantine, consisting of three oxen, a young 

 bull, and five cows. They also were feeding, and look- 

 ing well. Twelve days had elapsed since the occurrence 

 of the last death ; and we learned that should no other 

 case happen, the animals would not be liberated till the 

 completion of the twenty-first day from the time of the 

 last death. 



Leavinp: Zabrzez, we went on to Kamienica, five 

 miles distant, and the head-quarters of the Austrian 

 commission, which had been specially sent to adminis- 

 ter the sanitary laws applicable to the rinderpest. The 



