200 Report on Steppe Murram or Rinderpest. 



counties by cutting off all direct communication between them 

 and the infected districts for two months, 



Newby, in an Appendix to his Avork on mangel wurzel, states 

 that the cattle-fair at Barnet had its origin in the existence of 

 this disease. " The fair," he says, " was formerly kept at 

 Islington, till the distemper which raged violently among the 

 cows at that place in 1746 obliged the Welshmen to remove to 

 Barnet, where it has been continued ever since." 



Great as were the losses, no reasonable doubt can be enter- 

 tained that they would have been much augmented had not the 

 Government taken the course it did, and it is also probable that 

 the continuance of the disease would have been extended over a 

 far greater number of years than it was. The attempts at cine 

 •were not satisfactory, and very little was known of the true 

 nature of the malady even by those members of the medical pro- 

 fession who gave attention to it, for there were then no properly 

 educated veterinary practitioners. After a careful perusal and 

 analysation of the writings of the different physicians who have 

 treated of the affection, we believe that we are justified in saying 

 that it was identical with the disease that has recently excited so 

 much fear and alarm in the public mind, as being likely to be 

 introduced from the continent. 



In 1754-5 this cattle pest declined in amount and virulence, 

 and took its final departure a few years afterwards. From this 

 period England appears to have been singularly exempt from 

 epizootic diseases, and to have remained so down to August, 

 1839, when great anxiety was created by the sudden and almost 

 simultaneous appearance of a "new affection" (although pro- 

 bably of the same nature as that of 1713-14) among the cattle in 

 different parts of the country. The earliest accounts w^hich we 

 received of the outbreak came from Norfolk, and there seems no 

 reason to doubt that it was here that the malady was first ob- 

 served. Cattle of all ages and under every variety of system of 

 feeding and management became the subjects of the disease, 

 which was recognised by the existence of vesicles upon the 

 upper surface of the tongue, inside the lips, and the dental 

 pad. Vesicles were also formed between the digits, and occa- 

 sionally upon the teats and udders of the cows. The existence 

 of these vesicles was associated with a discharge of viscid saliva 

 from the mouth, loathing of food, imperfect mastication, sus- 

 pension of rumination, loss of milk, a tenderness in walking, and 

 general symptoms of febrile action. 



The malady was not confined to cattle, but sheep, pigs, and 

 domestic poultry of the gallinaceous tribe were likewise its sub- 

 jects. By common consent it was designated the cattle epidemic, 

 but has since been scientifically known as Eczema epizootica, or 



