246 Report on Steppe Murrain or Rinderpest. 



and should lose no time in effecting its complete and satisfactory 

 solution. In our opinion Austria should appoint a commission 

 of scientific men, and vest it with some of her absolute power 

 to conduct experiments and take every necessary means of 

 determining the point in a conclusive manner, for the benefit 

 of other countries as well as herself, and she will then both 

 deserve and receive the thanks of the world. 



Spontaneous Griffin. — The steppes of Russia are the home of 

 the rinderpest, and here it may be said to hold almost undisputed 

 sway, little being done by the Imperial government to stay its 

 ravages. Here also, as has been elsewhere stated, it is alone 

 regarded as having a spontaneous origin, but with what amount 

 of correctness we are unable to say. Doubtless every disease has 

 had its place of origin, and in it there may exist persistent causes 

 which keep alive, so to speak, the curse of sin. Such causes may 

 possibly be found on these vast plains of Russia, and if so, here 

 would be the natural habitation of the pest. Be this as it may, 

 it is certain that in those countries which are contiguous to the 

 steppes, the malady has no such origin, and its appearance in 

 them is invariably associated with the recent introduction of 

 steppe cattle and generally'^ in the ordinary course of traffic. 



No disease, which we have ever studied, appears to be 

 governed by such precise laws as this with regard to the means 

 of its extension ; and it is difficult to believe that it should 

 spread by infection alone throughout Europe, and not be subject 

 to the same law in the steppes. Supposing the fact, however, 

 to be as asserted, it is evident that peculiarity of breed is not 

 the cause on which it depends. Large numbers of steppe oxen 

 are met with out of Russia, and in Galicia we saw many which 

 were used for the purposes of husbandry, and these are never 

 known to be the subjects of the pest, unless brought under the 

 influence of the infection. Besides, the Hungarian, Italian and 

 steppe cattle are all, from their great similarity, evident de- 

 scendants of the old Roman ox, and yet it appears that in but 

 one of these has rinderpest a spontaneous origin. Hungarian 

 oxen are even said to be less susceptible to the disease than the 

 other breeds met with in the Austrian dominions, and to bear up 

 better against it, so that the per centage of deaths among them is 

 much less than among others. Exertion has been assigned as 

 the cause of the appearance of the malady, but like breed this 

 seems to be powerless with all cattle except those of the steppes. 

 We do not regard, therefore, the fact of the breaking out of the 

 pest among steppe cattle at the end of a journey as a satisfactory 

 proof that the exertion they have undergone is the cause. 



When we observe a malady to be capable of being com- 

 municated from animal to animal by innumerable means of 



