CONTAGIOUS LUNG FEVER OF CATTLE. 239 



ducecl and every calf born must be inoculated. It becomes evident, therefore, that 

 to the stock of the country at iarc?e inoculation jiroduces all the dangers of an equal 

 extension of the di.scaso in the ordinary way. 



Inoculation, thei'cfore, is ruinous to any attempt at extinguishinr; the poison. It 

 has been tried in Holland more extensivelj^ than in any country in Europe, and Hol- 

 land is to-day the most plague-ravaged country on the continent. It has been fol- 

 lowed extensively in Great Britain, but she has been reluctantly compelled to abandon 

 it in favor of a system of absolute extinction. It has been i^racticed widely around 

 Now York, yet this district is probably now the most prolific center of the disease in 

 America. 



Australia has fallen back upon it as a dernier resort, after a fruitless attempt to expel 

 the majady from the open pastures. We, too, must one day come to this wretched 

 palliation, if we neglect to stamj) out the disease while still confined to our eastern 

 and inclosed farms, and allow it to reach our western open prairies. 



DANGER OF JIKDICINAL TKEATMENT. 



• As with inoculation, so with the maintenance of sick animals alive for treatment. 

 The production and diffusion of the poison is in exact ratio to the period during which 

 the animal is allowed to survive after illness has been detected. To treat the sick, 

 therefore, is almost equivalent to propagating the disease, because on a large scale 

 and in all sorts of stables it is imxjossiblo to keep up a constant disinfection of the air 

 and other diseased products. 



"Wherever extinction of the poison is attemi)ted, treatment of the disease must be 

 forbidden under heavy iienalties. 



mrorvTANCE of uxited states action. 



The isolated action bj"^ individual Staies is eminently unsatisfactory. In New York 

 wc are workiug at the extermination of the disease, but after wo have accomplished 

 this wc can ouly preserve our immunity by subjecting all New Jersey cattle to a 

 quarantine of one or two months at our frontier. If New Jersey on her part kills it 

 out, she must quarantine against Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania against Jlarylaud and 

 Vii'ginia, and so on as far as the disease is found to extend. Isolated action will be 

 incomparably more expensive, tardy, and uncertain than a uniform movement under 

 one central head, and everything ought to give way to secure such a desirable result. 

 The question involves tens of millions of dollars of our foreign commerce annually, 

 and the trade has been steadily increasing, so that it is surely a matter in which the 

 central government can properly act. 



SUGGESTION OF MEASURES FOR THE EXTINCTION OF THE DISEASE. 



1st. A]ipoint a veterinary sanitary staff to act with the Commissioner of Agriculture 

 in stamping out the contagion. * 



2d. Make it incmnbent on all stock-owners and their rei)resentatives, and on all 

 veterinarians, to report all suspicious cases to the Commissioner under a ])enalty. 



3d. Let the sanitaiy staii' promptly investigate all such cases and take measures 

 accordingly. 



4th. Let every infected county be proclaimed and placaxded, and let all movements 

 of cattle within such county bo forbidden excepting by special license. 



5t Ii. Let all sick animals iu an infected herd bo at once slaughtered, their hides 

 slashed, and the carcasses deej^ly buried; and i)i ease the owner has not Avithheld 

 notice of the existence of the disease let him obtain an order on the treasury for a 

 suitable indcmnil y, which should in no ease exceed one-half the value of the animals ; 

 failure to notify should entail loss of tlu^ indemnity. 



(5th. lict all cattle found in infected ])laces be likewise slaughtered, their hides dis- 

 infected, and their beef alloweil to pass into consumption as food, if fit for this pur- 

 pose. I'or such auiiruiis, iudcjunity should be allowed to the extent of not more than 

 two-thirds of the value, afh'r deihicting salvage obtained from meat and hides. 



7'th. Let all infected stal)les, all nuuuu'e, aiul all movable objects that have come in 

 contact with diseased cattle, be subjected to an exhaustive clisinfection, aud let all 

 cattle afterward placed iu such buildings be sequestered in quarantine inuler the 

 supervision of the veterinary sanitary authorities until at least three months after 

 the removal of the last sick animal and the disinfection of the premises. 



bth. Let all raih'oad cars, shi])S, boats, vvagons, and other movable ol)jeets that 

 have become infected be cleansed and disinieeted under the dircclion of the veterinary 

 saniti'.ry staff l)efbrc they are again used for the transportation of cattle. 



The advice to slaughter the exposed as well as the sick cattle I think very import- 

 ant, as it enables us to stamp out the disease quickly and to disinfect once for all, and 



