ISO 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



commission was constituted of Dr. Anton Karger and 

 M. Johann Rucki, " Imperial Royal Commissioners of 

 sanitary police for Epizooties," and from them, during 

 our entire stay, we not only experienced all the assistance 

 in their power in furtherance of our inquiry, but likewise 

 the greatest kindness and friendship. We were thus 

 left Iree to pass as often as occasion required between 

 Kamienica and Zabrzez, and so to act in our investiga- 

 tions, both within and witliout the cordon, as scarcely 

 could be anticipated, when the austerity of military dis- 

 cipline in these cases is considered, and which compen- 

 sated in a great measure for our oat-straw beds and sour 

 rye-bread repasts. 



In Kamienica we found two quarantine stations, in 

 one of which seven animals were placed, and in the 

 other nine. Two days prior to our arrival a case had 

 occurred in the first station, and more were daily looked 

 for. The animal in question, a cow, was observed by 

 her owner, late in the evening of Thursday, April 30th, 

 to be out of health. She was reported early on the fol- 

 lowing morning, and immediately seen by the Commis- 

 sioners, who at once recognised the pest. She lived till 

 2 p.m. on Saturday, May 2nd, only surviving the attack 

 about forty-two hours. After the body had been ex- 

 amined — and which has to be done in every instance — 

 it was buried. The skin, however, was allowed to be 

 removed for the owner's use subsequent to its being 

 disinfected and prepared under the inspection of the 

 proper officers. 



At our first visit to these quarantine stations, in com- 

 pany with the Commissioners and Professor Nicklas, 

 and which was late in the afterpart of Monday, May 4th, 

 no ii.dications of disease could be detected in any of the 

 animals— a fact not without some value, as, on our 

 second visit, at 6 a.m. of the following day, an aged 

 cow, one of the seven, exhibited some of the premonitory 

 symptoms of the pest. This case will hereafter be re- 

 ferred to. 



According to arrangement, we next proceeded to ex- 

 hume the animal which had died on Saturday, that we 

 might note for ourselves the several lesions which had 

 been produced by the disease. We found that all the 

 viscera of the chest had been removed, and were lying 

 by the side of the body, and on bringing both these and 

 the carcase to the surface, we were forcibly struck by 

 the circumstance that so little decomposition had taken 

 place, that no unpleasant smell attended our operations, 

 although the animal had been dead about G5 hours. 

 The flesh also was firm, and of a normal colour ; the 

 blood, however, was still fluid in the ^vessels, and of a 

 darker hue than natural. It will not be necessary to 

 give a detailed account of the morbid appearanc, s which 

 were met with in the viscera, and more especially as, in 

 the course of this report, we shall have to describe these 

 in extenso as they were observed in other cases ; suffice 

 therefore to say, that although they left no doubt of the 

 animal having died from the linderpest, they opened 

 up new ideas in our minds as to the pathology of the 

 disease. 



Before proceeding to a description of the nature and 

 symptoms of the malady, or the relation of indivi- 

 dual cases of it, we propose to give in the next place the 



History of the Appearance of the Rinder- 

 pest IN Zabrzez and Kamienica. 



Until the present occasion, the villages of Zabrzez 

 and Kamienica, as well as all the surrounding district, 

 have been perfectly free from the disease since 1846. 

 The present outbreak took place in the month of 

 March, and was due to the introduction of 10 steppe 

 oxen which had been purcnased at a cattle fair held at 

 Jacmirz, in the Lemberg division of Galicia. These oxen 

 came with large droves from Bessarabia, and from three I 



to four thousand head were brought together at the fair. 

 Jacmirz is about twenty German miles from Zabrzez, 

 and three full days were occupied in driving the animals 

 to the latter-named place. 



They were bought by M. Berl Krumholz, farmer and 

 distiller, and arrived at the farm on the 15th of the 

 same month, and, after remaining a few hours, were 

 sent on to Kamienica, where the distillery is situated. 

 They were here put with 14 fat oxen, but, in conse- 

 quence of these being sold for slaughtering two days 

 afterwards, the steppe cattle were returned to Zabrzez 

 on the 18th. Here they were placed in a stable by 

 themselves, and stood there until the 20tb, when four of 

 them were a second time sent to Kamienica, with 10 

 head of young stock, and on their arrival were placed 

 with 21 others. On the following day, the 21st, the 

 six steppe oxen left at Zabrzez were observed to be 

 trembling, which being supposed to depend on exposure 

 to cold, they were put into a shed for warmth, in which 

 were 18 other animals, consisting of some young bulls, 

 cows, and two calves. On the 22nd, the four steppe 

 oxen at Kamienica were likev/ise noticed to be unwell 

 and trembling, and, the true nature of their illness being 

 now suspected, they were immediately removed from 

 the other stock, and orders were sent to Zabrzez for 

 the six to be also taken away and kept by themselves. 



As a further security to the stock at Kamienica, early 

 the next morning the four steppe cattle were sent back 

 to the farm at Zabrzez. Notwithstanding this precau- 

 tion, the disease broke out among the young stock on 

 the 30th, and eight of them died on the first day ; and 

 by April 3rd, thirty-one in all were dead. Besides these 

 animals, M. Berl Krumholz had ten others at 

 Kamienica, and the Commissioners decided upon killing 

 them at once, so that he might receive something to- 

 wards his loss. The entire number, therefore, lost by 

 him Kamienica was 41 animals ; and had it not been for 

 the selling of the 14 fat oxen, they also in all proba- 

 bility would have been sacrificed. 



On the same day that the disease manifested itself at 

 Kamienica it also broke out at Zabrzez among the 

 eighteen with which the steppe oxen were placed on the 

 21st. Of the entire 28 anionals located here, including 

 the 10 steppe cattle, thirteen died, eleven were killed, 

 three recovered, and one resisted the infection entirely. 

 The three animals which recovered, and the one which 

 escaped the attack, were all steppe oxen: they have 

 been previously mentioned as being seen by us on our 

 first visit to the farm. 



The establishment of the cordon confined the disease 

 entirely to this farm, although there were in the village 

 altogether 453 head of cattle, the greater part of which 

 were very poor and weak animals, badly fed and badly 

 provided for. 



The progress of the disease was rather singular at 

 Zabrzez — thus, 11 of the 13 deaths had occurred by the 

 end of the third day of the outbreak ; every one of the 

 animals dying which up to that time had shown symp- 

 toms of the disease. On the ninth day subsequent to the 

 death of these, another animal sickened and died, and 

 on the fourteenth day after its attack a second ; while in 

 twelve days more a third was taken ill, namely, a young 

 bull, whose case will be hereafter recorded in full as 

 coming under our own immediate investigation. 



Notwithstanding that the same sanitary measures 

 were taken at Kamienica as at Zabrzez, the disease 

 reached the village cattle, but was fortunately prevented 

 making much havoc among them. The ultimate result 

 of the outbreak was that, out of 433 cattle kept in the 

 village, 65 were attacked, of which 37 died, and 28 

 were slaughtered. 



In Kamienica the malady chiefly prevailed among the 

 cattle of the small proprietors and peasants ; and the 



