182 THE CONTAGIOUS TYPHUS 



symptoms are declared, such as stupor, loss of 

 appetite and sliiverings, may be handed over 

 to the butchers. But this must only be done 

 on the positive understanding and condition 

 that every animal, sick or not sick, in times 

 of epizootia, shall pass, either in the farm, 

 the market, or the stable, under the examina- 

 tion of a competent veterinary inspector, who 

 shall mark the beast when fit to be sold for 

 consumption. With this precaution, which at 

 present is put in practice in Belgium, every 

 interest is cared for and guarded those of the 

 public health as well as those of the cattle 

 owners. 



But there is another question of some im- 

 portance which deserves to fix our attention 

 for a moment. People sometimes inquire 

 whether the ox-typhus can be communicated 

 to other animals, and even to man, either by 

 contact, by direct absorption, or by inhaling 

 the miasma floating in the atmosphere. 



Experiments of great interest might be 

 made on this subject; but we can already 

 assert, on the evidence of facts publicly known, 

 that the direct absorption of putrid matter 

 and purulent secretions, and likewise the mere 



