SMALL-POX IN SHEEP. 243 



the greatest and constant prevalence of the sheep-pox in the 

 principal provinces of Prussia, Posen, Pomerania, and Bran- 

 denburg ; in Silesia and Saxony only isolated outbreaks occur, 

 whereas the western provinces have remained free. The 

 disease is, therefore, stationary in certain provinces, and the 

 question is, must it be regarded as an enzootic disorder due 

 to local influences, or is the cause of its persistence in these 

 parts the preservation and reproduction of the small-pox 

 virus by means of yearly inoculations as a precautionary 

 measure on the part of many flockmasters? Some inoculate, 

 and others do not; the contagium is, therefore, preserved 

 or regenerated at several or many points. Under these 

 circumstances it is scarcely possible, adds Gerlach, to avoid 

 the spread of the disease from the inoculated herds; and this 

 happens with great certainty and frequency, in consequence 

 of the absence of all sanitary regulations with regard to the 

 inoculated flocks. 



My inquiries, when in Germany in 1862, resulted in the 

 confirmation of all I had previously heard and read as to 

 small-pox in that part of the Prussian dominions. I learnt, 

 however, that in 1861 the disease was worse than it has been 

 for many years, and, as usual, the alarm of small-pox out- 

 breaks led to many farmers inoculating their flocks, and 

 establishing many centres whence the disease could extend 



itself. 



The year 1862 was one of extraordinary losses by con- 

 tagious disorders. 



Small-pox in sheep broke out in April at Hinter Pdbnitz, 

 and thence it spread to many farms in the neighbourhood of 

 Eostock. The attention of the Mecklenburgh Government 

 was directed to the subject in the month of June. District 

 after district was rapidly proscribed, and many farmers, 

 alarmed at the approach of disease, inoculated their flocks. 



