254 Annnal Report for 1914 of Royal Veterinary College. 



considerably less bright. In all the great wars of modern 

 times, and probably in all great wars since the horse was 

 domesticated, glanders has been the cause of great loss ; and, 

 in spite of the better command of the disease which mallein 

 confers, it is not to be expected that the present European 

 conflict will form any exception to the rule. If, therefore, 

 army horses are brought back to this country at the close of 

 the war there will be a considerable risk of a recrudescence of 

 glanders. Before the discovery of mallein that result would 

 have been a certainty, but fortunately the danger can now be 

 minimised by the more accurate methods of diagnosis which 

 are available. 



Foot-and-mouth Disease. 



In 1912 there were 83 outbreaks of this disease, in which 

 645 animals were attacked, and this was the largest number of 

 outbreaks in any year since 1892. In 1913 the country was 

 free from the disease during the first ten months, and only two 

 outbreaks occurred during the year, viz., one in November and 

 one in December, in which a total of 73 animals were attacked. 

 In respect of the number of outbreaks the past year was the 

 worst since 1892 with the exception of 1912, a total of 27 

 outbreaks, with 167 animals attacked, having been reported. 

 The first outbreak occurred during the third week in February, 

 and the last in the week ended December 19. The outbreaks 

 were distributed in the counties of Durham (1), Worcester (1), 

 Carnarvon (1), Lancaster (8), Lincoln (11), Kent (1), North- 

 ampton (1), and Bedford (3). 



The circumstances made it probable that the outbreak of 

 the disease in February was caused by contagion brought from 

 Ireland, but it is understood that the inquiries instituted by 

 the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries failed to throw any light 

 on the cause of the outbreaks which occurred in August, 

 September, October, and December. 



It is much to be regretted that the Departmental Committee 

 which was appointed to carry out experiments concerning 

 foot-and-mouth disease in India failed to obtain any precise 

 information as to the vitality of the virus outside the body, or the 

 possibility of the contagion being carried in such materials as 

 hay. It was unexpectedly found that the breeds of cattle which 

 were available for the experiments in India possessed such 

 a high degree of insusceptibility to foot-and-mouth disease that 

 a large proportion failed to become infected even when large 

 doses of fresh virus were injected into their veins ; and, as the 

 native sheep, goats, and swine appeared to be eqnall}^ resistant, 

 it proved impossible to determine by the use of any of these 

 animals whether the virus contaminating such materials as hay or 

 straw had up to any particular period retained its virulence or not. 



