THE IIISTORY OF VETERINARY MEDICINE. 259 



" In those instances where the infected mountains of our neigh- 

 bors abut too closely on our own, these last should be most strictly 

 guarded, and it should not be for less than a year after the disease 

 has disappeared that any communication should be allowed ; as ex- 

 perience has amply demonstrated that cattle not suspected of the 

 disease have been attacked by the contagion by grazing on mount- 

 ains in the neighborhood of those infected. Sometimes we are 

 obliged to exercise a greater degree of severity by destroying the 

 hogs which, according to custom on the mountains, feed with the 

 cattle. The contagion which destroys the cattle does not affect 

 either pigs, sheep, or horses; but it is always to be apprehended 

 that these may carry some of the contagion or their infected breath 

 to these animals, and may thus spread the disease. 



" It is only by these precautions, which should be constantly in 

 force, that it is possible to confine the contagion to a village or 

 mountain, and to keep the country free from infection." 



That these explicit instructions of the great Haller have not been 

 without their proper appreciation, may be seen from the following : 



Professor Putz * (of the "Veterinary Institute at Bern) says : 

 "It is not difficult to determine what regulations are indicated, 

 from a truly scientific stand-point, to suppress the contagious lung- 

 plague of cattle. In order to effectually eradicate the generation of 

 infectious material, the sole generator of the pest, there is no more 

 radical method than the complete killing out of the infected herd. 

 A view of the questionable conditions in Switzerland satisfactorily 

 demonstrates how advantageous it would be were all the nations 

 of Europe to adopt this plan. In the canton of Bern, noted for 

 its richness in cattle, for about one hundred years (since Haller) this 

 scientific procedure has been successfully carried out, and it has 

 finally become universally adopted by the numerous cantons of the 

 Swiss Republic. The law (of February 8, 1872) for the suppres- 

 sion of contagious animal diseases, especially the contagious pleuro- 

 pneumonia of cattle, says, article 24, ' In Switzerland no cattle that 

 have been diseased with the contagious lung-plague (Ansteckenden 

 Lungenseuche) can ever again be allowed to become an article of 

 traffic' ' In Massachusetts the same course was adopted, at a cost 

 of some seventy -five thousand dollars to the people of the State, but 

 the result has been, that while the disease has prevailed, and still 

 prevails, in neighboring States, not a single case has again appeared 

 in Massachusetts. 



* " Die Lungenseuche," etc., by Professor Putz, " Vortrage f iir Thierarzte," Series i, 

 Heft 6, v. 7. 



