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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



classes. It is influenced by many external circumstances, 

 such as tlie manner in which the infection is received, 

 the heat of the weather, temperament of the animal, 

 freedom from oilier diseases, peculiarity of constitution, 

 &c. Nons of these causes can be said, however, to pre- 

 vent the outbreak of the malady, although some of them 

 may retard, and others fr'.cilitate, its appearance. Dur- 

 ing the incubative period, the animal gives no indication 

 of ill-health, and only does so when the disease is about 

 to declare itself. 



The time that the poison of the rinderpest lies dor- 

 mant is also found to vary ; many animals sickening on 

 the seventh day after exposure, and others not until the 

 thirteenth or fourteenth. Some are said even to pass to 

 the twentieth day before giving evidence of the malady. 

 Such cases are fev and may possibly depend on secondary 

 exposure to the infection rather than on so great a varia- 

 tion in the periods of incubation. These secondary ex- 

 posures are not uufrequently entirely overlooked, and es- 

 pecially with such an alTection as the rinderpest, the infect- 

 ing materials of which can be conveyed by indirect as well 

 as by direct means. It must not be forgotten, also, 

 tthat it is a rule or law belong to this class of maladies 

 that if an animal passes over the usual period of incu- 

 bation, it is secure against an attack, and in order to be- 

 come the victim of an infection, it must be a second 

 time exposed to the influence of the morbific matter. 

 Direct and well-considered experiments are wanting with 

 regard to the incubation of the pest, and these we had 

 no opportunity of making while on our mission. No 

 doubt, however, should be allowed to remain on a point 

 like this, as on it depends the security to be afforded to 

 every country which is contiguous to the steppes of 

 Russia. Austria, which suffers almost annually from 

 this disease in some parts of her dominions, bas an es- 

 pecial interest in the question, and should lose no time 

 eft'ectitig its complete and satisfactory solution. In our 

 opinion Austria should appoint a commission of scientific 

 men, and vest it with some of her absolute power to 

 conduct experiments and take every necessary means of 

 determining the point in a conclusive manner, for the 

 benefit of other countries as well as herself, and she will 

 then both deserve and receive the thanks of the world. 



Spontaneous Origin. — The steppes of Russia are the 

 home of the rinderpest, and here it may be said to hold 

 almost undisputed sway, little being clone by the Im- 

 perial Government to stay its ravages. Hi^re also, as 

 as has been elsewhere stated, it is alone regarded as hav- 

 ing a spontaneous origin, but it is very probable that a 

 scientific investigation would show that it spreads only 

 from infection directly or indirectly communicated to the 

 numerous herds of cattle which inhabit these extensive 

 plains. 



Doubtless every disease has had its place of origin, 

 and in it there may exist persistent causes which keep 

 alive, so to speak, the cur.-e of sin. Such causes may 

 possibly be found on these vast plains of Russia ; and if 

 80, here would be the natural habitation of the pest. Be 

 this as it may, it is certain that in those countries which 

 are contiguous to the steppes the malady has no such 

 origin, and its appearance in them is invariably associated 

 with the recent introduction of steppe cattle, and gene- 

 rally in the ordinary course of traffic. 



No disease which we have ever studied appears to be 

 governed by such precise laws as this, with regard to the 

 means of its extensiou ; audit is difficult to believe that 

 it should spread by infection alone throughout Europe, 

 and not be subject to the same law in the steppes. Sup- 

 posing the fact, however, to be as asserted, it \a evident 

 that peculiarity of breed is not of the causes on which 

 it depends. Large numbers of steppe oxen are met with 

 out of Russia, and in Galicia we saw many which were 

 used for tiie purposes of husbandry, and these arc n^ver 



known to be the subjects of the pest, unless brought 

 under the influence of the infection. Besides, the Hun- 

 garian, Italian, and steppe cattle are all, from their great 

 similarity, evident descendants of the old Roman ox, and 

 yet it appears that in but one of these has rinderpest a 

 spontaneous origin. Hungarian oxen are even said to 

 be less susceptible to the disease than the other breeds 

 met with in the Austrian dominions, and to bear up 

 better against it, so that the percentage of deaths among 

 them is much less than among others. 



Exertion has been assigned as the cause of the appear- 

 ance of the malady, but like breed this too is powerless 

 with all cattle except with the steppe. We do not re- 

 gard, therefore, the fact of the breaking out of the pest 

 among steppe cattle at the end of a journey as a satis- 

 factory proof that the exertion they have undergone is 

 the cause. 



When we observe a malady to be capable of being 

 communicated from animal to animal by innumerable 

 means of conveying the wa^eries morbi; and when we 

 take into account the varying susceptibility of animals 

 to the immediate action of this matter, and also the 

 further circumstance of its remaining dormant in the 

 system for a fortnight, or possibly a longer time, we see 

 many reasons for withholding our assent, without 

 greater exptrience in the disease, to the opinion that 

 the pest xias a spontaneous origin in the ox of the 

 steppes. 



General Si/mpiomg of the Pes f. — When the animal 

 sickens, the affection will be recognised by almost con- 

 tinuous spasmodic twitchings of the voluntary muscles 

 of the body, more jiarticularly those of the neck and 

 shoulders, and of the hind quarters. These twitchings 

 are accompanied by tremors, which are more or less 

 generally diffused, and which interrupt the regularity of 

 the spasms, and give to the animal an appearance of 

 suffering from exposure to cold. The coat stares, and 

 the patient stands with its back arched and its legs 

 gathered together under the boily, but does not seemingly 

 suffer much acute pain. In the course of a few hours 

 rumination is suspended, and the appetite fails, but 

 water will generally be partaken of alaiost up to the 

 end. 



The temperature of the body is variable, a slightly 

 increased warmth of skin existing at the beginning of 

 the illness, which soon, however, gives way to chilliness 

 of the surface, and this again to a death-like coldness of 

 the ears, legs, and horns, as the malady advances to a 

 fatal termination. The pulse is scarcely di>turbed at 

 first, unless the attack is a severe one ; when it quickly 

 rises to 70 or more, but wants tone in its action. In 

 all ordinary cases it becomes gradually more frequent in 

 number, but less in force, and in the latter stages can 

 only be felt at the heart. 



The respiration is but very little altered at the com- 

 mencement; it rarely becomes difficult, and was never 

 painful in any of the cases we witnessed It sometimes 

 rises to 30 on the second day. The contractions of the 

 abdominal muscles are often interrupted in their rhyth- 

 mical action by the spasmodic twitchings, which give a 

 singular motion to the animal's flanks, and has led some 

 observers to speak of a diflBculty of breathing as being 

 invariably present. A discharge comes on early from 

 the nostrils, which has many of the characters of ordi- 

 nary mucus, but, when carefully examined, will be found 

 to contain flocculi of lymph. A slight cough is also 

 present in some cases; but it cannot be heard except 

 one is near to the patient, when it imparts a singular 

 and almost indescribable sound to the ear. 



The expression of the countenance does not denote 

 much acute suffering, and the eyes are without any dull 

 appearance, except in the advanced stages of the malady, 

 when the lids are found to be drooping as in sleep, and 



