488 



LUNG-PLAGUE OF CATTLE. 



In the extreme heat of summer and in hot 

 climates, the breathing becomes short, rapid, 

 and labored, and often each expiration is ac- 

 companied by a grunt. The nostrils become 

 retracted, and the animal stands most of the 

 time with feet apart, head extended, eyes 

 prominent and glassy, back slightly raised, and 

 is incapable of most of the normal functions of 

 life. Where the disease takes the violent form, 

 there is not only great mortality, but a rapid 

 culmination, while the milder cases are slower 

 and more prolonged. 



The result of study extending over a con- 

 siderable period is the belief that the lung- 

 plague is due to bacteria, which, being taken 

 into the lungs by the breath, make their way 

 through the delicate lining of the air-cells and 

 multiply, destroying the integrity of the tissues 

 and causing inflammation and exudation. In- 

 oculation has been tried, with results of dis- 

 puted value. Inoculation is generally made at 

 the tip of the tail, where the connective tissue 

 is scanty and the lymphatic system poorly de- 

 veloped. It causes a harmless swelling, and 

 is believed to diminish at least the liability of 

 the animal to the infection. It is also con- 

 sidered effective in reducing the liability to a 

 fatal termination in case the lungs are attacked. 

 The risks connected with inoculation are due 

 to the fact that the real virus of the disease 

 is used, and that the effect is the actual develop- 

 ment of the disease, though localized and con- 

 fined in its effects. A somewhat insidious 

 danger arises from the fact that the infection 

 is sometimes carried for a considerable period, 

 and communicated by means of the encysted 

 masses in the lungs of animals that have re- 

 covered. These sometimes continue for a year 

 or more. Oases have been known of infection 

 from inoculated cattle, and it is believed that a 

 general resort to that preventive would simply 

 spread the disease. 



The subject of this lung-plague of cattle in 

 the United States has been investigated by a 

 commission of the Treasury Department, whose 

 report was submitted to Congress in February 

 of this year. They found no evidence of its 

 existence in New England, or west of the Alle- 

 ghany Mountains. At the time the examina- 

 tion was made " not a shadow of suspicion of 

 lung-plague could be thrown upon our Western 

 herds." After recounting the evidence on this 

 point, the commission said : " We claim, there- 

 fore, with the utmost confidence, that up to the 

 end of the year 1881 the lung-plague of cattle 

 has been confined to the vicinity of the Eastern 

 seaboard, extending from Putman County, New 

 York, to Fairfax or Prince William County, 

 Virginia. Connecticut is sound, and North 

 Carolina is sound, so that ai; present the infec- 

 tion is confined to the States of New York, 

 New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Mary- 

 land, and Virginia, and the District of Colum- 

 bia." The commission took the ground, how- 

 ever, that within the area described the plague 

 is in no way disappearing, but they found the 



practice prevalent of killing animals and dis- 

 posing of them for beef when the symptoms 

 of the disease showed themselves. They also 

 discovered that efforts to conceal its exist- 

 ence were common among the owners of dairy 

 herds. Many cases of the plague were found 

 in and about New York city, Newark, N. J., 

 Philadelphia, Baltimore, in the District of Co- 

 lumbia, and in Virginia adjacent'to the District. 

 In all these cases there has probably been more 

 or less interchange among the herds. In the 

 opinion of the members of the commission 

 there can be no guarantee of health for cattle 

 going from any of these cities, until a better 

 system of precautions is established. They 

 favor a prohibition of any movement of cattle 

 from one of the infected States without a quar- 

 antine of ninety days, such as is required in 

 the importation of foreign cattle. They would 

 also have the carrying of cattle through infect- 

 ed States in either direction, from one unin- 

 fected State to another, confined to through 

 trains, which do not stop to take up cattle or 

 unmanufactured cattle-products, such as hides, 

 horns, hoofs, etc. They would also have bond- 

 ed markets established in the infected States 

 for all cattle intended for export or store pur- 

 poses. By care in inspection and in transmis- 

 sion from bonded markets to vessels, or places 

 of sale, the commission deem it possible to 

 prevent absolutely any spread of the infection 

 through the cattle-traffic. They favor a strict 

 quarantine of imported foreign cattle, and more 

 efficient provision for sanitation of vessels and 

 railroad trains used in the conveyance of live- 

 stock. 



Aside from precautions intended to prevent 

 the transmission and spread of the lung-plague, 

 the commission made practical suggestions for 

 stamping it out of existence in the States 

 where it now prevails. In order to do this, 

 they maintain that Federal action is necessary, 

 in addition to such effort as separate States 

 may be induced to make, because harmonious 

 action and a single control are essential to 

 success. Moreover, national authority alone 

 is competent to interfere in the regulation of 

 traffic from one State to another, and with for- 

 eign countries. Eestrictions upon local mar- 

 kets would be necessary, even to the extent of 

 closing them, but it is contended that this 

 would be within the purview of Federal au- 

 thority, in dealing with an infection which 

 concerns commerce in its interstate and for- 

 eign aspects. The commission would place all 

 abattoirs and fat-cattle markets under supervis- 

 ion, mainly for the purpose of preventing any 

 cattle entering them to be taken away again 

 alive. They would also have all movement of 

 cattle from city to city, or town to town, in 

 the infected States, permitted only under 

 license. And, most important of all, there 

 should be authority to enter premises to ascer- 

 tain the presence of the contagion, and to 

 slaughter whole herds among which it is dis- 

 covered, with fair compensation to the owners. 



