347 



all who break the rules relating to quarantine or other 

 means for the prevention of the cattle plague. 



Professor Hertwig, of Berlin, whose opinion is 

 always listened to with great respect in veterinary 

 circles, stated his reasons for adopting these resolu- 

 tions now, whereas in 1863 he was against shortening 

 the period of quarantine. He referred chiefly to the 

 importance of not offering temptations for cattle 

 dealers to evade the law by insisting on unreasonable 

 restrictions. The feeling of the assembly was greatly 

 in favour of avoiding vexatious and expensive mea- 

 sures, which might greatly interfere with the employ- 

 ment of capital in cattle traffic. A small number of 

 professors, not exceeding eight or nine, held out for a 

 quarantine of twenty-one days. 



It may be as well to state that quarantine regula- 

 tions, which have been regarded as almost useless in 

 the prevention of human disorders, from the great 

 difficulties in the way of carrying them out efficiently, 

 are recognised as of great value in controlling the 

 propagation of cattle plagues. It is possible to control 

 the movement of herds, and the governments of 

 Central Europe have found it absolutely essential so 

 to do. Indeed, the ablest medical men who have 

 written against the adoption of a quarantine system 

 for human small-pox and cholera, such as Professor 

 Siegmund, of Berlin, acknowledge its value and abso- 

 lute requirement with regard to the Rinderpest. A 

 professor from Galicia argued in favour of controlling 

 the movements of people wherever the disease ap- 

 peared, and no fact seems to have been better ascer- 

 tained than that of the communication of the Kinder- 



