CATTLE PLAGUE. 



HI 



The commissioners sat daily for a month 

 after their appointment, and on the 31st of 

 October issued their first report, the result of 

 careful and extensive inquiry in all parts of the 

 kingdom, and in the countries of Western Eu- 

 rope. Unfortunately, however, there was a 

 disagreement among the members of the com- 

 mission on some points of vital importance ; all 

 of the commissioners, except Mr. McClean, be- 

 lieved that the disease could only be arrested 

 by stopping for a time the movements of cattle 

 throughout England, Scotland, and Wales. The 

 majority of the commissioners recommended 

 that this stoppage should be absolute, while 

 Lords Spencer and Oranborne, Mr. Eead, and 

 Dr. Bence Jones were contented with prevent- 

 ing the movement of lean or store stock, while 

 they would permit fat cattle to go to fairs and 

 markets for immediate slaughter. Mr. McClean 

 believed that there was no reason for alarm and 

 no cause for action. Able as was the minority 

 report, it could not be concealed that the only 

 measure which promised success was one of 

 simple prohibition of all movement. If any ex- 

 ception were made, the order would be evaded, 

 and the purpose of the Government to prevent 

 the spread of the disease, foiled. The majority 

 demonstrated in their report that this would not 

 involve any considerable hardship, as fat beeves 

 could be slaughtered as easily in the country as 

 in the city, and their carcasses sent to market. 

 The price of meat would be enhanced for a 

 time, it was true, but if the disease was allowed 

 to spread it would be enhanced for years. On 

 other points, such as the extinguishment of the 

 seeds of the plague by disinfectants, the adop- 

 tion of hygienic measures, in the care of cattle, 

 the removal of manure heaps, the enforcement 

 of greater cleanliness, and the avoidance of over- 

 crowding, the report of the commissioners was 

 very valuable. The following were the meth- 

 ods of accomplishing the disinfection of premises 

 which have been visited by the plague, recom- 

 mended in the report : 



" 1. When animals attacked with the plague 

 have become convalescent, they ought to be 

 kept apart from sound beasts for three weeks, 

 and even then not to be permitted to associate 

 with them till they have been thoroughly wash- 

 ed with (Macdougall's) disinfecting soap, or with 

 a weak tepid solution of chloride of lime. The 

 whole body, hoofs and horns, should be thor- 

 oughly washed, and the nostrils and mouth 

 sponged out. 



" 2. During all the time that animals suffer 

 from the disease, the litter fouled by them, with 

 the dung and discharge on it, should be burned, 

 and not be allowed to mix with other manure. 

 It contains the poison in a concentrated form, 

 and it is questionable whether it can be disin- 

 fected efficiently. 



" 3. The sheds in which the diseased animals 

 have been must be thoroughly purified and dis- 

 infected. The roof and walls should be washed 

 with lime. The floor and wood work, after be- 

 ing thoroughly washed with water containing 



washing soda, should be again washed all over 

 with a solution of chloride of lime, containing 

 1 Ib. to a pailful. 



" 4. The hides and horns of animals which 

 have died of the disease ought to be buried with 

 the animal, according the Orders in Council. 

 But the hides and horns of those which have 

 been killed to escape the spread of the infec- 

 tion, must be dipped in, or thoroughly mopped 

 all over, and, in the case of the hides, on both 

 sides, with water containing 4 Ibs. of chloride 

 of lime to three pailfuls of water. Unless this 

 be done with care, a most fertile source of con- 

 tagion will be preserved. 



"5. The attendants upon diseased beasts 

 should not be allowed to go near the sound ani- 

 mals in the same farm." 



Equally important were their suggestions in 

 regard to the improvements of the stables and 

 cattle sheds necessary to render them less sus- 

 ceptible to the destructive influences of the 

 plague : 



"1. As no successful plan of treatment has 

 yet been proposed, the owners of cattle must, 

 in the mean time, rely chiefly upon those hygie- 

 nic measures which the experience acquired in 

 other diseases shows to be important in prevent- 

 ing the spread of contagion, and in diminishing 

 the intensity and area of an attack, when, in 

 spite of such measures, they invade a locality 

 hitherto nninfected. In the case of the cattle 

 plague it is certain that no sanitary precautions 

 can prevent the spread of the disease when it 

 is actually introduced ; still, from analogy, we 

 may draw the conclusion that some effect may 

 be produced on the rapidity of the spread, or on 

 the virulence of the disease, by placing cattle in 

 the conditions most favorable to health.* 



" 2. With this view it is important to secure 

 strict cleanliness, good drainage, efficient ven- 

 tilation, and to prevent overcrowding in all 

 cattle-sheds and cowhouses. ISTo accumulations 

 of litter fouled by the voiding of animals should 

 be permitted in, or even close to the houses or 

 sheds in which cattle are kept. Chloride of 

 lime, carbolic acid, or the powder containing 

 carbolate of lime, and sulphite of lime (in plain 

 English, ' Macdougall's Disinfecting Powder '), 

 should be used. The latter is probably the 

 best ; it contains a well-known disinfecting sub- 

 stance which is formed when sulphur is burned, 

 and also a strongly antiseptic material, creosote, 

 from coal tar. The sheds themselves should bo 

 swept and washed daily, and sprinkled with 

 disinfectants. But such purification of the 

 air of cattle-sheds or houses will be insufficient 

 to preserve health if the cattle be overcrowded. 

 Pure air and nourishing diet are of great im- 

 portance in protecting animals from the attacks 

 of disease. Pure water, derived from sources 

 Tincontaminated by drainage from surrounding 

 dung-heaps, or from the absorption of vitiated 

 air which hovers around them and in the sheds 

 of cattle, is equally essential. 



" Every farmer should look to the housing of 

 his cattle in the present emergency, as he would 



