THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



U 



THE CATTLE PESTILENCE. 

 THE CENTRAL SOCIETY OF AGRICULTURE. 



The sitting of the 22ad of April has been wholly oc- 

 cupied with a communication from M. Renault, Director 

 of Alfort, which has exclusively absorbed the attention 

 of all present. 



In a previous sitting, M. Pomtnier had called the at- 

 tention of the members to a letter published in the 

 Times, and which proclaimed in alarming terms the 

 re-appearance of the contagious typhus, which periodi- 

 cally ravages the countries of Northern Europe. And 

 besides this, the measures adopted by the English Go- 

 vernment to prevent the introduction into the United 

 Kingdom of cattle, hides, bones, or any animal matter 

 whatever, coming from Russia, Prussia, and Mechlen- 

 burg-Schwerin, imparted a character of authenticity to 

 the fears expressed by the Times. 



M. Renault asks whether these fears are well founded, 

 and if we ought really to trouble ourselves about the 

 reports circulated respecting the contagious typhus. 



There was one categorical way of replying, once for 

 all, to these questions ; and that was by giving the his- 

 tory of this terrible disease ; and M. Renault is better 

 qualified than any other person to afford this informa- 

 tion, having been twice sent by the French Government 

 to inspect the district in which the ejnzootie prevailed. 



M. Renault first and foremost declares that there is 

 no cause to be alarmed at the ravages of this malady. 



Twelve years ago the contagious typhus made a great 

 noise in France ; we saw it rapidly approaching towards 

 us: it was reported to be in Belgium, and even in 

 Alsace. The press, the Chamber of Deputies, and the 

 Government were seriously excited about it. A Com- 

 mission, consisting of Messrs. Yvart (Inspector-General 

 of the Veterinary Schools), Renault (Director of Al- 

 fort), and Imlin (Veterinary Surgeon of Strasburg) were 

 sent into the North of Europe. 



On arriving at Brussels, the Commission certainly 

 found the country almost appalled ; but it was only with 

 the reports which had been spread in France. The 

 Commission took the line of our eastern frontier by 

 following the Rhine, and were met there but by one 

 deep feeling of astonishment, at the fears which we 

 had manifested. On approaching the east the Com- 

 mission did not perceive the least trace of uneasiness. 

 Wurtemburg and Bavaria, it is true, held themselves 

 upon their guard, but they had not yet adopted any 

 measures of prevention. 



It was only at Vienna that the Commissioners could 

 find any traces of the scourge. They learned that the 

 typhus had that time taken its rise in the Russian 

 steppes, where it was still making great ravages enough ; 

 that it was during the summer of 1844 that it had intro- 

 duced itself into Gallicia, and had progressively 

 extended towards the west, with the large droves brought 

 by commerce to the great fairs of Olmutz, from whence 



it had spread itself, by the dispersion of the animals 

 purchased there, into a great part of Moravia, 

 Lower Austria, and Bohemia. The butchery of the 

 Austrian States, in fact, slaughter annually about 

 100,000 head of the race from the steppes; and it is 

 by this means that the disease penetrates into the 

 country. But on the arrival of the Commissioners 

 it was rapidly decreasing in Moravia, and quite extinct 

 in Lower Austria ; whilst, temporarily stopped in 

 Bohemia, it had re-appeared there afterwards with 

 fresh virulence. These gentlemen repaired thither at 

 once, and were soon able to give an account of ttie 

 causes or this relapse of the evil. 



There is only one remedy employed against the typhus, 

 and that is an absolutel)' efficacious one. Immediately 

 that the disease is declared in a country, they surround 

 the farm, the commune, or the canton infected, with a 

 cordon of troops, with orders not to allow any of the 

 bovine race to pass out ; they then put to death and 

 bury all the sick, and even suspected animals; and at 

 the end of some weeks the disease is stifled. 



The typhus had entered Bohemia by Moravia. The 

 veterinary surgeon sent by the Government had pre- 

 scribed the ordinary means, and the disease had made 

 no further progress, and had almost wholly disappeared. 

 But some surgeons were desirous of making a post- 

 mortem examination of the dead animals ; and, from the 

 internal injuries which they observed, they concluded 

 that the disease was no other than abdominal typhus 

 which we find amongst mankind, which originates spon- 

 taneously and has no contagious character. 



This novel opinion, supported by names of consi- 

 derable weight in the country, was rapidly disseminated. 

 The faculty of Prague embraced this opinion, which 

 favoured the possibility of the spontaneous rise of the 

 typhus independent of the steppes, entertained by the 

 French authors also who had written upon that disease ; 

 and the proprietors, who always saw with regret the 

 massacre of their cattle ordered by the veterinary sur- 

 geons, complained loudly. From the instant in which 

 the disease was declared non-contqgious,* the cordon 

 sanitaire and the sacrifice became an useless and ruin- 

 ous measure. Prince Stephen, the Govenor-General of 

 Bohemia, was from that time led, if not to suspend, at 

 least no longer rigorously to sustain, the execution of 

 sanitary measures. 



Immediately, the disease, which had been confined 

 within a narrow space, invaded the whole of Bavaria, 

 causing enormous ravages ; and the Government of 

 Vienna, placing but slight confidence in the discovery of 

 the doctors, sent to the other districts aff"ected the learned 

 Director of the Veterinary School of Vienna, with ex- 

 tended powers ; and this person having stated and de- 

 clared that the disorder was certainly the contagious 



