206 The Cattle-Plagac. 



pellecl to resort to another set of expedients in dealing; with the 

 enemy tliat has stolen upon us, such as isolation, the sfoppar/e of 

 fairs and markets, and — in the present state of clinical knowledge 

 — slaughter. 



When the heel can cover the icw^ sceptic germs of the freshly 

 imported cattle-plague, the attempt to stamp them out has 

 usually been attended Avith success. It was so in France, where 

 43 victims were made, and in Belgium where 1000 cattle fell 

 in the successful attempt to prevent propagation. The three 

 counties of Middlesex, Essex, and Surrey, rid themselves in 

 three months of the plague in 1348 by decisive measures, Avhile 

 for want of a like course it prevailed for several years in the rest 

 of the island. In 1862 likewise, the farmers taking the matter 

 into their own hands, stamped out small-pox in Wiltshire amongst 

 the sheep. Had the advice of Professors SlMONDS and Gamgee 

 been heeded, the country would not have furnished the afflictive 

 intelligence which now fills the columns of our daily journals, 



Aberdeen furnishes so good an instance of the skilful deter- 

 mined way in which a community can wield these two weapons 

 of isolation and slaughter that it is w^orthy of being recorded. 

 The county, consisting of 84 parishes, agrees to provide a fund 

 by a voluntary rate of one penny per pound upon the agricul- 

 tural rental of proprietors and of tenants, which amounts to 4000/. 

 Sufferers by disease are indemnified to the extent of two-thirds 

 of their loss when the animals are allowed to die, and three-fourths 

 when slaughtered. A separate committee watches over the 

 interests of each parish, and excutes the stringent orders of the 

 central committee to slaughter the single animal when one in a 

 herd is only detected slightly alTected, and to watch the rest by 

 paid watchers ; and, if the disease spread, to slaughter all animals 

 in contact with the diseased. The committee meets on every 

 new alarm, values the whole stock on the farm, resolves on mea- 

 sures, communicates its resolve to the owners, who if non-com- 

 pliant forfeit all claim on the funds. It is also responsible for 

 disinfecting and burying, &c. The first Report, published on 

 the 10th January, contains this abstract : — ' The disease has 

 been in this county since July. It has attacked 40 different 

 herds ; 93 animals ha:ve died of the disease ; 143 have been 

 slaughtered and buried ; and 226 have been slaughtered on the 

 spot and the meat sold after inspection. Total number, 426 ; 

 total loss, including that on animals slaughtered and sold, 3875/. 

 The loss by the slaughtering policy estimated at about oo\ per 

 cent, on the whole value, deducting the returns by sale. At the 

 date of this Report the plague was completely extirpated. But 

 by the 1st February the disease had appeared almost simul- 

 taneously in four herds seven miles distant from each other. 



