224 Report on Steppe Murrain or Rinderpest. 



of contagious diseases among domesticated animals. From them 

 we learned that the entire district we had proposed to visit was 

 now perfectly free from the pest, and that, if it existed anywhere 

 in Prussia, it would probably be found in the neighbourhood 

 of Breslau, in the province of Silesia. They also further in- 

 formed us, that there was but little chance of our being able to 

 study the nature and symptoms of the pest in any part of the 

 Prussian dominions, from the summary proceedings which are 

 invariably had recourse to for its immediate extirpation, and 

 that for the purpose of seeing the malady in its different stages, 

 we should have to go into Austro-Poland, or some other part 

 of the Austrian empire, where the laws are somewhat less 

 stringent and not so rigorously enforced as in Prussia. We 

 ascertained also that in all probability, in the event of our suc- 

 ceeding in obtaining an entrance within the Prussian military 

 cordon, we should not be allowed to repass it in a less period 

 than three weeks, and even then we should most likely have to 

 leave the clothes we had worn behind us, besides having our- 

 selves to undergo a disinfecting process. 



Under these circumstances we sought an interview with Lord 

 Augustus Loftus, her Majesty's Charge d^ Affaires, in the absence 

 of Lord Blomfield, minister at Berlin, with a view of obtaining 

 from the government of Prussia the latest particulars with regard 

 to the location of the malady, and that amount of assistance and 

 protection which we needed for the fulfilment of our mission. 

 This interview was at once granted, and we were most courteously 

 received by his Lordship, who manifested the liveliest interest 

 in the question, and also expressed his willingness to do all he 

 could in furtherance of the object. His Lordship explained at 

 some length his views as to the absolute necessity of the keeping 

 up of a strict surveillance over all articles of commerce which 

 Avere likely to carry the materies morhi of the disease, and of the 

 danger which would be incurred in the event of its extension 

 by allowing the importations to go on from tlie great ports of 

 the Weser and the Elbe, facts which have already been alluded 

 to in the former part of this report. Lord Loftus also dwelt on 

 the amount of danger which might probably arise from the free 

 importation of bones from Russia and the Baltic ports, and 

 instanced a case where an outbreak of the malady Avas be- 

 lieved to have depended on the conveyance of the bones of an 

 animal dying with it into a stable in Avhich other cattle were 

 placed. His Lordship requested that I would write to him 

 stating the object of our inquiry and the requirements we needed 

 from the Government. He also promised that he would put 

 himself in immediate communication with Baron Manteuffel, 

 and would write also to his Excellency Sir Hamilton Seymour, 



