PREVENTIVE MEDICINE 227 



and at least partial disinfection of horse and cattle trucks after each 

 time they have been used is compulsory under the Order of the 

 Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (see Sanitary Law). 



Such cleansing and disinfection is limited to the removal of 

 excreta and soiled food, washing and subsequent whitewashing of 

 certain specified parts. As a routine measure for keeping the 

 trucks clean it is all that is required, but there may on occasion be 

 instances where more vigorous means must be adopted, as for 

 instance following the carriage of animals affected, or suspected to 

 be affected, with foot-and-mouth disease, anthrax or other dangerous 

 specific disease. Each case must of necessity be treated according 

 to its particular requirements. 



The most satisfactory way of cleansing a cattle truck or horse 

 box is to remove all the dirt and then forcibly spray the whole 

 inner surface of box, gangway, &c., with a 5 per cent, carbolic 

 solution ; subsequently the box may be scrubbed out and when dry 

 be limewashed, the wash to contain 5 per cent, of carbolic acid. 

 Fumigation is impossible owing to the open nature of the trucks 

 and the impossibility of making them gas tight. 



DISPOSAL OF CARCASES. 



The carcases of animals may be disposed of by sending them to 

 a knackery or to a destructor, or by burial or cremation. 



In the case of cattle, a Local Authority may require notification 

 of any death from illness, except where such death results from 

 accident or calving, and stipulate that no head of cattle (bulls, 

 cows, oxen, heifers, and calves) which has died or been slaughtered 

 on account of illness may be removed or destroyed until it has been 

 inspected by a Veterinary Inspector of the Local Authority, or a 

 certificate has been granted by a veterinary surgeon that death has 

 not been due to any of the " scheduled diseases." Animals which 

 have died or have been killed on account of having been affected 

 with a " scheduled " disease, or suspected of having been so affected, 

 are disposed of under the regulations of the Ministry of Agri- 

 culture and Fisheries. 



The safest and most expeditious way of disposing of danger- 

 ous carcases, such as those of animals that have died of anthrax, 

 is to have them destroyed in a digester or destructor, and the pro- 

 cedure adopted by the Lanark County Council is undoubtedly the 

 ideal one. This progressive county has a contract with a knackery 

 for the removal of anthrax carcases in a specially constructed cart, 

 and for their destruction. 



