210 THE CONTAGIOUS TYPHUS 



stances which favour the development of 

 typhus, and the result of their reports would 

 enlighten the peoples as to the causes which 

 produce it and from which they are first to 

 suffer. They would be recommended to choose 

 as pastures the healthiest places, to withdraw 

 their cattle at certain seasons from those plots 

 of ground which are baleful to them ; new 

 systems of agriculture would be planned and 

 tried, &c. These questions being carefully 

 examined, might lead to important results; 

 nor can we understand how, in the age in 

 which we live, the same indifference and 

 apathy as prevailed in the past should be 

 maintained in presence of the positive and 

 permanent causes of this infectious disease, 

 whose contagion, as we now see by many 

 proofs, may extend at once to so large a portion 

 of Europe. There is now something to be done 

 in this matter; it is the duty of the governments 

 to deal with it effectually, and to take serious 

 measures to destroy the evil radically, if radi- 

 cally it can be destroyed, and, if not, to alleviate 

 its pernicious effects as much as possible. 



Moreover, many breeders of cattle have not 

 waited until now to guard against some of the 



