42 THE CONTAGIOUS TYPHUS 



periments to ratify his opinion. He intimates 

 his notion in the following terms : 



" I apprehend that inoculation will stand 

 the better chance of bringing on the distemper, 

 if the subject it is performed on is as young as 

 safety will permit, the vessels being then most 

 absorbent, and the animal economy most easily 

 put into disorder. 



" But even in case the inoculation of calves 

 should be found so successful as universally to 

 prevail, the method I recommend will not be 

 altogether useless; for, by being properly 

 modelled and adapted to circumstances, it 

 may, I am persuaded, prevent contagion, and 

 likewise act as a preparative in any epidemical 

 affection of the inflammatory kind, not only in 

 horned cattle, but likewise in all other quadru- 

 peds that civil society may think worthy of 

 preservation, and even in the human species." 



Layard, in 1757, devotes the seventh chapter 

 of his work, " The Means to prevent the Infec- 

 tion," to the consideration of the preventive 

 treatment, in which he says : 



"No one will think of bringing the infec- 

 tion into any place free from it, merely for the 

 sake of inoculating their cattle; but if the 



