472 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



to visit the farm of Senator George A. Williams, ^vhose herd of fine 

 Alderneys have been suffering more or less from the scourge for the 

 past two years. Here, among several chronic cases, was one that, al- 

 though he had been sick for some time, was making no progress towards 

 a good recovery. This animal the overseer consented to let us kill. 

 The autopsy showed, well marked, the lesions of the disease. The infec- 

 tion here, as with all the other outbreaks hereabouts, came from Balti- 

 more. At this point farther investigations were given up for the pres- 

 ent, and it still remains, in order to properly finish this report, to make 

 an examination of the remainder of this State, the District of Columbia, 

 and Virginia, in all of which places it is believed that contagious pleuro- 

 pneumonia of cattle exists to a greater or less extent. 



As a result of my investigations thus far, I find this ruinous foreign 

 plague actually existing among cattle in the following States : 



Connecticut. — In Fairfield County. 



New York. — In li^ew York, Westchester, Putnam, Kings, and Queens 

 Counties. 



New Jersey. — In Atlantic, Gloucester, Camden, Burlington, Ocean, 

 Mercer, Monmouth, INIiddlesex, Hunterdon, Morris, Essex, Union, Ber- 

 ge^n, and Hudson Counties. 



Pennsylvania. — In Philadelphia, Chester, Montgomery, Bucks, Le- 

 high, Cumberland, York, Delaware, Lancaster, and Adams Counties. 



Maryland. — In CarroU, Baltimore, Harford, and Cecil Counties. 

 The middle and southwestern portions of this State have not yet been 

 visited. 



No examination has yet been made in the District of Columbia or of 

 the infected territory of Virginia, but, as the plague prevailed quite ex- 

 tensively in both of these localities last season, it will no doubt be found 

 Btill in existence when the investigation takes place. 



A map showing the extent of the infected territory accompanies this 

 report. 



Kespectfully submitted. 



CHAKLES P. LYMAN, AT. R. C. V. S. 



Washington, D. C, Ap-il 16, 1880. 



CATTLE PLAGUE OR RINDERPEST. 



history of the disease. 



The rindpr]^est (cattle plague, jjestis bovilla) appears to have been 

 carried from Central Asia to Europe as early as the fourth century, but 

 the first exact description of this disease dates from the year 1711, two 

 years after an extensive epizootic outbreak of the same in most European 

 countries. It is estimated that in the course of the eighteenth century, 

 not less than two hundred million head of cattle were carried off by the 

 cattle plague. In the beginning of the present century, Prussia, 

 Schleswig Holstein, Saxony, and France, were visited by the plague, 

 wbich was observed to have followed the movements of armies during 

 the wars of tl\e first Napoleon, in 1828, 1829, and 1830, during the 

 Eusso-Turkish and the Eusso-Polish wars, the rinderpest was carried 

 from Kussia into Poland, Prussia, and Austria. In 1805 the plague ap- 

 peared in Holland, and was carried thence to England. In both coun- 

 tries the disease carried off one hundred thousand head of cattle in the 



