Tkc Caitle-Plarjiic. 2G9 



interlaced with a network of highways and raih-oads, and sub- 

 ject to strong v.inds, is impossible — disinfectants are not to be 

 depended upon, and slaughter is a remedy little better than the 

 plague itself. 



In prevention much may and must be done. Now that the 

 channels of communication are such as to allow of cattle being 

 brought from the permanently infected districts of Russia within 

 the period allowed for the incubation of the virus — and the de- 

 mands of an industrious people will certainly draw large supplies 

 from them — all importations of foreign live stock must be put 

 under stringent rules. Taking care to protect the valuable herds 

 of Great Britain in this way, it will further rest with the agri- 

 culturists of this country in the breeding and rearing of cattle 

 to observe those laws of health which will impart to them, if 

 not a direct immunity agaist future visitations, a strength of 

 constitution that will better resist corrupting influences. 



It is noAV 200 years since the fire of London Cjuenched the 

 plague and placed us in better accord wdth sanatory law. Pro- 

 bably we may find salutary lessons arise out of the present 

 afflictive discipline. Whatever conclusions we may arrive at 

 concerning errors of management, 6cc., tending to predispose our 

 herds to infectious disorders, we may certainly agree in this, 

 that the greater is the difficulty in a free country like ours in 

 coping with the cattle-plague Avhen it has burst into flame, the 

 more important it is to extinguish it on its first appearance. 



