236 Report on the Contajious an I 



spread of the disease being stopped by the operation of inoculation are far more 

 numerous than tliose in which it has ceased spontaneously. 



The present position of the question of the precise value of inoculation as a 

 protective against pleuro-pneumonia is such as to forbid the hope that the 

 matter will ever be satisfactorily determined. When on the one side there 

 exists an absolute conviction of the certainty of the measure as a preventive, 

 and on the other an entire disbelief of the existence of any benefit which may 

 arise from it, it is not probable that experiments on a sufficiently extensive 

 scale will be undertaken by either side, and there does not seem to exist any 

 third party with whom the solution of the problem is a matter of suflScient 

 importance to justify the outlay of time and money which would be necessary 

 for the conduct of an exact investigation. 



Preventive measures in general would include all those means which have 

 been suggested in reference to the prevention of the spread of cattle-plague, 

 foot-and-mouth disease, and, indeed, all contagious and infectious maladies to 

 which stock are liable. Isolation or slaughter of diseased animals, prevention 

 of movements except by license, and the stoppage of fairs and markets in 

 infected districts, may be placed among the measures which have been proved 

 to be effectual in arresting the spread of the disease. 



It cannot be inferred, however, that the mere slaughtering of diseased 

 animals which have been some time affected, and the recovery of which is 

 scarcely to be expected, is a measure which is calculated to be of much benefit. 

 The stamping-out system, as it is understood on the Continent, means the 

 slaughter of diseased animals immediately on the discovery of the disease, and 

 the careful isolation of the rest of the herd until the period of incubation has 

 passed. 



Early removal of diseased animals is undoubtedly an effective measure ; 

 and, in order to apply this precaution before the disease has advanced sufli- 

 ciently to render its diffusion a matter of certainty, it is desirable that the 

 herd among which the disease has appeared should be examined by the aid of 

 a thermometer, and all the animals which indicate a temperature of 102° be 

 removed from the rest, and carefully isolated, until symptoms of the disease 

 appear, when they should be immediately slaughtered. 



In reference to the disinfection of premises in which diseased animals have 

 stood there is a difference of'opinion among Continental veterinary authorities, 

 some contending that cleansing and disinfection are not sufficient to destroy 

 the vitality of the infecting germs ; and they illustrate this remark by refer- 

 ence to cases of the recurrence of disease among animals which have been 

 pilaced in sheds some months after diseased beasts have been removed from 

 them, notwithstanding the places had been cleansed and disinfected in the 

 interim. We have no facts which would justify us in accepting this con- 

 clusion as applicable to the disease in this country. When premises have been 

 properly cleansed b}' washing and subsequent use of lime, or chloride of lime, 

 it has not been found that animals placed in these premises shortly after the 

 process of cleansing has been completed, have suffered from the malady. 



In attempting to deal with pleuro-pneumonia under the Contagious Diseases 

 (Animals) Act two great difficulties have presented themselves — first, it has 

 been found impossible to ascertain the extent of the disease, owing to the 

 facility with which it can be concealed, especially when it occurs in the dairies 

 of large towns, which may be looked upon as the chief centres of infection ; 

 secondly, the long period of incubation, which makes it impossible, in manj'- 

 instances, to determine whether an animal is infected with the disease or not. 

 Without a large statf of inspectors with compulsory powers of entry no exact 

 information can be obtained as to the extent of the prevalence of the disease ; 

 and, owing to the uncertainty of the period of incubation, no regulations which 

 eould be applied to an infected herd would be likely to arrest the spread of the 

 infection unless they were continued for a long period or made permanent. 



