CONTAGIOUS LUNG FEVER OF CATTLE. 231 



in£» the stock at the frontier of every State, and of the disinfection of cars, loading- 

 banks, stock-yards, and markets. If snch were resorted to. after an cstensiTC infection 

 of onr Western lierds by lung fever, the cattle trade Tronkl lie virtnally ntoppcd. Thns 

 a safe quarantine for store cattle could not be less than three weeks, and a registra- 

 tion and supervision for five weeks more on the farms to which they arc taken, would 

 he absolutely essential. Thus the quarantine yards and sheds would be continual 

 centers of infecticu, and would require to be very extensive, thoroughly isolated from 

 each other, and constantly and perfectly disinfected, the air as well as the solids, to 

 prevent the infection of newly-arrived stock. Such an incuhus upon the trade would 

 amount to a virtual prohibition. In rinderpest, sheep-pox, and aphthous fever, quar- 

 antine is a comparatively simple and available expedient, as the disease shows itself 

 witlrin a week : but, in lung fever, with the germs lying unsuspected in the system 

 for one or two months, a protective quarantine is practically impossible wherever an 

 active catile trade is carried on. Hence in the countries of Centr.al and "Western 

 Europe, through which the active traffic from the East is carried on, a complete con- 

 trol is usually maintained over rinderpest and sheep-pos, while the peoples have 

 resigned i hcmselves to the prevalence of lung fever as an tinaA'oidable intliction. The 

 same holds in Great Britain. Twice within eleven years has she crushed out invasions 

 of rinderpest, and repeatedly has the same thing been accomplished for sheep-pox; 

 but the lung fever is accepted as a necessaiy evil, between which and her large im- 

 portations of continental callle she must make a deliberate choice. 



Happily, in these United States we are as yet under no snch compnlsion. The lung 

 fever on American soil is still confined to the Eastern States and to inclosed farms, 

 from which it is quite possible to eradicate it thorouglily. Of this possibility we have 

 abundant evidence, alike in the Old World and the New. In several countries of 

 Western Eirrope, tlirongh which there is no continuous cattle traflic between nations 

 on opposite sides, this disease has been killed out and permanently excluded by an in- 

 telligent veterinary sanitary supervision. Sweden imported the disease in Ayi'shire 

 stock in 1847, but at once circumscribed the infected herds and places, slaughtered the 

 (Mseased, disinfected all with which they had come in contact, and promptly extin- 

 gnished the outbreak. Denmark, invaded the same year from a similar source, and 

 on several subsequent occasions from Holland and England, as often quenched the 

 poison by analogous measures, Oldenburg, Schleswig, and Korw.ay, successively in- 

 vaded by the importation of infected Ayrshires, in 1858, 1859, and 1860, respectively, 

 enjoyed a similar happy riddance, through the application of the same system of sup- 

 pression. Switzerland, long slandered as the native homo of the lung jilague, has at 

 last awoke to the truth of the statement of the immortal Haller, made more than a 

 century ago, that this disease only occurs " when an animal has been brought from an 

 infected district" ; and, by the judicious use of suppressive measures, has permanently 

 rid the country of the pestilence, and demonstrated that their Alpine ail- is as clear 

 and wholesome for beast as for man. 



In America, Massachusetts and Connecticut have furnished examples cqnally strik- 

 ing. The former imjiorted the disease in Dutch cattle in May, 18.59. In April, 1860, 

 when it had gained nearly a year's headway, an act was passed, and a commission 

 appointed, with full power to extirpate it. After the slaughter of 932 cattle, it was 

 believed that this had been achieved; but new centers of infection were tliscovered in 

 the two succeeding years, and it was not until 18(i5_that the commonwealth was 

 purged of the poison. Since that year the lung fever has been unknown in Massachu- 

 setts. Connecticut has had a similar experience. Her proximity to New York City 

 and Long Island has brought upon her a series of invasions; but, profiting by the ex- 

 perience of her neighbor, she has, on each occasion, grajipled successfully with the 

 enemy, and driven him from her midst. 



W'hat has been done by the Scandinavian nations, by Oldenburg and Switzerland, 

 by Massachusetts and Connecticut, can be done by all of onr Eastern States. On this 

 point the teaching of history is as unequivocal as on the certainty of the irreparable 

 results if our open Western stock ranges were infected. The one indispensable pre- 

 requisite to success is the vigorous and simultaneous action of the various infected 

 Slates, and its persistent maintenance until the last infected beast has disa])pearcd 

 and Lho last contaminated place or thing has been purified. It matters little whether 

 controlled by State or national governnieut, if vigor and uniformity of action can be 

 secured ; but, as snch combined and unliagging worlc is necessary, it could be best con- 

 trolled by an intelligent central authority. The United States Government is as much 

 called upon to defend her possessions against an enemy like this — so im])lacable, so 

 relentless, and so certain, if not repelled, to lay us under an incubus which will in- 

 crease wilh the coming centuries, and dwarf <ho ])ros]ievity to which we aii" t'Utitled — 

 as against the less insidious one who attacks us openly with lire and sword. Let the 

 national Congress consider this matter well. Let every stock-owner press it upon hia 

 iCepresentative as a matter that cannot be safely ignored evon for a single day. Let 

 boards of .'igriculture, farmers' clubs ,and conventions, granges, and all citizens who 

 value the future well-being of the nation, nuito in a strong representation on the sub- 



