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XXX. — General Cattle Mutual Insurance Fund.'* 

 By W. Faer, F.R.S. 



1. Six thousand head of cattle die weekly of disease, according- 

 to some computations, in the United Kingdom daring ordinary 

 years ; and, at intervals, diseases, like epidemics among men, break 

 out with violence and destroy two or three times that number, f 

 These diseases are called " plagues " or " epizootics."| Some of 

 them are propagated by contagion, and others are produced by 

 soil, bad food, bad water, seasons, dirt, and close sheds, which 

 also render epizootics fatal. 



2. It is a peculiarity of cattle plagues, either in the form of Rin- 

 derpest, Pleuropneumonia, or Anthrax (Foot-and-mouth disease), 

 that while the whole stock of the country, as far as we know, 

 appears to be susceptible, they single out and sweep away the 

 cattle on particular spots and leave others unscathed. It is in 

 such cases a loss to the whole community ; but when the loss falls 

 first upon wealthy owners, it is annoying but not ruinous. The 

 poor man's cow, the dairyman's stock, and the farmer's herds, 

 are, however, usually the victims, and the destruction of a large 

 portion of their capital is often the ruin of individuals. 



3. The community at large suffers in the loss of animal food 

 by some classes, and its increased price to others. By virtue of 

 a well-known economical law, when the supply of a necessary 

 of life falls off, the demand remaining the same, prices rise, and 

 the consumer within certain limits pays the same amount of 

 money or more for a diminished amount of the commodities 

 brought to market. § The competition of buyers renders this 

 result inevitable. Thus if one in twenty-one of the cattle are 

 destroyed, the owners of the residual twenty will in the end 

 probably get as much for the produce of twenty as they get in 

 the ordinary state of the market for the produce of twenty-one. 

 A rise of 5 per cent, in the price will suffice to produce this 



* The following Paper is that referred to by Dr. Farr in his Lecture on the 

 same subject (see Keport of Discussions). It was framed as an alternative to 

 the scheme for voluntary Insurance which he then brought forward. — P. H. F. 



t The ordinary cattle stock by enumeration is about 8,iJ0n,000; and at a mor- 

 tality of 5 per cent, per annum the deaths would be 430, ouo a year ; at 4 per 

 cent., 344,0UO — that is, between 8000 and GOOO a week. In Great Britain, at the 

 same rates, the weekly deaths are 4000 or 5000 a week. 



X Epidemic is derived from the Greek epi, upon, and demos, the people ; epi- 

 zootic comes from epi, upon, and znon {(,oou), an animal. Smallpox is now a 

 contagious disease, and is always found in London ; it is sometimes fatal to four 

 or five people, at other times to eighty or a hundred a week. In the latter case it 

 is said to be epidemic. So Einderpest is always found in Southern Russia ; when 

 it is active and diffusive, killing many beasts, it is epizootic. 



§ See ' Tooke on Prices.' 



