232 



Report on Steppe Murrain or Rinderjiest. 



tlgatlons were going on, as during this time many animals Avere 

 inadvertently exposed to the infection, and consequently they had 

 the malady incubated in their systems when the preventive 

 measures were enforced. Another cause of this long duration oi 

 the malady is to be found in the difficulties which were expe- 

 rienced in the adoption of the sanitary laws, and the want of zeal 

 on the part of the public in giving effect to them. In October 

 the disease declined in the different circles, and was nearly extir- 

 ])ated, but about the middle of November it reappeared in the 

 villages of Braunau and Seitsch, which doubtless depended on a 

 second communication being established between them and some 

 of the still infected farms." Tlie following table shows the num- 

 ber of the places affected, together with the quantity of cattle 

 kept and the result of the outbreak : — 



The report states in conclusion, " that, considering the extent 

 of the circles and the number of cattle kept in them, together 

 with the length of time which elapsed before a correct diagnosis 

 was arrived at, the loss is but a trifling one, and especially when 

 at is compared with the thousands of animals which are sacrificed 

 to the disease in other countries." 



Subsequently to the extirpation of the pest from this part of 

 .Silesia in November, 1856, the province continued free until the 

 month of March of the present year, when, as has been previously 

 explained by the official report which we have inserted at page 

 -25, on the authority of Baron Sclileinitz, some villages lying 

 near to the frontier of Galicia were affected by " the introduction 

 of two herds of cattle from that country.*' It thus appears that 

 Silesia has experienced two separate outbreaks, the first during 

 the year 1856, and the second in 1857. 



By the extension of the disease northward, Lithuania and 

 Courland became affected, the pest showing itself in the latter- 

 named province in the autumn of 1856, and continuing until 

 January, 1857, with an estimated loss of 2000 head of cattle. 

 Throughout the entire year of 1850, in consequence of the steady 

 progress of the disease in Russian Poland, the importation of 

 cattle, skins, bones, hair, (Sec, was strictly prohibited all along 



