228 Report on Steppe Murrain or Rinderpest. 



that, "during the Russo-Turkish war in 1827 and 1828, the 

 Russian cattle which were sent for the supply of the army carried 

 the murrain with them, and that it destroyed no less than 30,000 

 head of cattle in Hungary, 12,000 in Galicia, and 9000 in 

 Moravia." 



Again, in 1831, 1832, and 1833, in consequence of the Polish 

 insurrection, the disease committed great ravages in that country, 

 causing considerable distress. At this period it also crossed the 

 Prussian frontier, in the department of Bromberg, and, although 

 quickly exterminated, swept away nearly one thousand head of 

 cattle. 



In 1849-50 the malady again prevailed to a very great extent 

 in Hungary ; its introduction being due, according to the official 

 report of MM. Renault and Imlin, Commissioners appointed by 

 the French Government to inquire into the subject, to the passage 

 of the Russian troops from Wallachia by way of Transylvania. 



Very shortly also after the army of Russia was sent to occupy 

 the Principalities, rumours of the cattle-plague became current. 

 We find that as early as 1854 the disease had made consider- 

 able progress both in Volhynia and Podolia. From that period 

 nearly down to the present the malady gradually extended itself, 

 until it reached most of the countries in eastern Europe, and 

 some parts even of Asia Minor. From the Principalities it can 

 be traced in a northerly and westerly direction into Moravia, 

 Galicia, Poland, Prussia, Lithuania, &c. ; easterly into Bess- 

 arabia, Southern Russia, and the Crimea ; as also into Turkey, 

 and to the southern shore of the Black Sea. 



We have not been able to arrive at any correct estimate of the 

 immense losses these several countries sustained in consequence 

 of this visitation ; but it has been officially reported that no less 

 than 26,442 head of cattle were destroyed in the Austrian domi- 

 nions in the year 1856. And Consul-General Mansfield, in a 

 despatch from Warsaw, states, that from May 9th, 1856, to the 

 date of his report, March 29th, 1857, twenty thousand beasts 

 had been sacrificed in Poland alone. It has likewise been said 

 that the French army lost in Samsoun 8000 beasts out of 17,500 

 in the space of nine months, and that we lost during the same 

 time 4000 out of 10,000 from the pest ; facts which may help to 

 convey an idea of the hundreds of thousands which were swept 

 away. 



Mr, Radcliffe, M.R.C.S., who lately held a commission in 

 the Ottoman army, reports that, while he was stationed at Sinope, 

 the murrain was developed towards the termination of the 

 spring or early part of the summer of 1855, and that in the 

 month of June it reached its acme. " Scattered cases," he 

 adds, " occurred, however, from time to time until November, 



