The Present State of the Cattle Plague. 511 



tiiem in sheds. He was sorry to state that even the sheep in his 

 neighboui'hood had been unquestionably attacked within the last fort- 

 night. 



With regard to the inspectors, there was a very great difference 

 between them. The difficulty was to get a good inspector. He 

 knew a case in which an inspector had done infinite harm — a 

 case in which there had been collusion, and beasts had been 

 sold and sent to market which ought to have been shot. He was 

 afraid that in some cases bribes and improper practices had been 

 resorted to. But they could not help themselves. They did not 

 know where to get good inspectors. In his neighbourhood, indeed, 

 they were fortunate in that respect, for they had a very good one. 

 Having a valuable herd of shorthorns, he had taken the greatest 

 possible care in using disinfectants, and had done all he could to 

 keep people from going to see his animals ; yet, notwithstanding 

 all the care he could exercise, his herd had got the pest ; whilst he 

 knew cases in which farmers who had been entirely careless about 

 the treatment of their beasts had never been visited with the scourge 

 at all. 



Dr. Ceisp complained that the Act had not been properly carried 

 out ; and said he believed that for every hour, nay, every minute, 

 a diseased animal was permitted to live, another animal was sacrificed. 

 Unless infinitely more stringent measures than those now in operation 

 were adopted, they would never get rid of the disease. As to the 

 inspectors, there were indeed 900 of them, but of these only 250 were 

 members of the Veterinary College. The cause of this was that 

 in this country the Veterinary College was a mere club, maintained 

 by private members, and that there was no national institution of that 

 kind. There ought to be an Agi'icultxiral Board and an Agricultural 

 University. If matters had been managed in a different way when 

 the plague first broke out, they would have been able to meet it, 

 and the agricultural interest would not be in its present wretched 

 condition. 



The Chairman said he should like to put a question co Dr. Voelcker 

 before the meeting separated. In his part of the world (Northampton- 

 shire), salt had been resorted to as a means of preserving hides. He 

 should like to know whether it acted as a disinfectant.. 



Dr. Voelcker was inclined to think that quick-lime would be much 

 more efficient. 



The Chairman : But that destroys the hides. 



Dr. Voelcker thought it was a question whether the brine was 

 sufficiently strong to destroy the plague-poison. That was the great 

 difficulty which he found, not only with respect to salt, but also with 

 regard to carbolic acid ; and he was anxious to recommend great 

 caution in the use of both. There was no question that strong salt 

 brine was capable of destroying certain organized matters, whilst 

 a dilute solution would preserve them. He had himself great fears 

 that the use of carbolic acid might actually tend to spread the disease, 

 if it were employed in a diluted condition. No doubt, carbolic acid — 

 say one part in fifty — would destroy organized animal matters ; but 



VOL. II. — S. S. 2 L 



