282 Abstract Report of Agricultural Discussions. 



Mr. Sewell Eead, M.P., said : As to cattle having recovered tlirough 

 not being allowed to feed -when attacked with the plague, he might 

 say that in his exjjericnce the animals were at the first stage of the 

 disease shiit w]) and deprived of all food, except in the shajie of 

 mashes, gruel, arrowroot, linseed-tea, and other kinds of nursing food, 

 combined with the best medical treatment ; yet they all died. He 

 agreed with Lord Berners, that in rocky districts and the fens, the 

 best course would be to cover animals with sulphuric acid. If in such 

 districts an animal were at once j)laced in an iron tank and covered 

 with sulphuric acid, that would be much better than an attempt at 

 burial. Manure was such a bulky substance that it was impossible to 

 disinfect it, and he would ask the Professor whether it would not 

 be best to scatter it at once on the land, and plough it in. 



Lord Cathcaet said he was sure that landlords would all give up 

 hunting if a general wish were expressed to the effect that it should 

 be discontinued. He thought they were greatly indebted to the 

 learned Professor for the clearness and ability with which he had 

 treated this subject ; and he would add that the decision which the 

 Professor had shown in this matter, in common with the chiefs of the 

 medical profession, and the forethought which they had evinced in 

 relation to it, did them the utmost credit. He concurred in the opinion 

 that there had been unquestionable instances of cattle-plague attacking 

 sheep. He believed a very important application had been made of 

 the thermometer, by which the disease had been discovered in its 

 earliest stage, when it could be discovered in no other manner. Some- 

 thing had been said about Mr. Worms' treatment. He had heard 

 from a neighbour of his who was for a long time in Ceylon, where 

 Mr. Worms gained his experience, that the remedy in question was 

 there by no means considered a sj)ecific. He understood that the 

 plague was to a certain extent raging at Ceylon at the present time, 

 and that cattle were acti;ally dying on Mr. Worms' own farm. 



The historical view of the learned Professor was very interesting, 

 but he did not refer to one of the best authorities, namely, Lancisi, 

 an eminent Italian physician of the seventeenth century, who, about 

 1690, wrote a most admirable work on this subject. He was more- 

 over employed by the Pope to exterminate the disease in his domi- 

 nions ; and the result was that it was got rid of there much more 

 speedily than in the rest of Italy, the means employed being simply 

 the poleaxe and isolation. 



The question of bimal was one of great importance, especially with 

 reference to the infiltration of wells. In one case with which he was 

 acquainted, 29 dead cows were buried close to a spring which supplied 

 a village with water ; and the consequences of such a state of things 

 might be most serious as regarded human health. 



The Professor, in giving the history of the cattle-plague at former 

 periods, alluded to an outbreak in Banfishire. From an old record 

 of that outbreak it appeared that it was caused by the landing of some 

 hay from a ship ; and that was a very instructive fact. 



He wished to say one word on the subject of statistics. Statistics 

 were the anatomy of a nation ; and he considered it a national mis- 



