CONTAGIOUS LUNG FEVER OF CATTLE. 241 



inclosures for other stock and separated from them only by a narrrow wagon road, 

 perhaps fifteen feet wide. 



Mr. Fowler, whom I found in charge of the yard, was violently denunciatory of the 

 mere idea that this disease existed anywhere, and of all who would mention such a 

 subject, and could with difiiculty bo persuaded to give any information regarding tho 

 yards, the stock, its proximity in tho incloaxires, and its disposal. lie admitted, how- 

 ever, that they got four or live cows per Avcek, and on rare occasions one or two car- 

 loads ; that they mostly came from Eastern Pennsylvania, and that they remained iu 

 the yards until they were sold to parties in New York City, Brooklyn, Jersey Citj', 

 Stateu Island, &c. I may hero state that on tho occasion of my visit, late on Satur- 

 day night, the cow-stable contained eighteen cows and eight calves waiting for sale ; 

 8o that, according to Mr. Fowler, I must have hit ujjon the Aery exceptional case of 

 an arrival of two car-loads. 



I further drew from Mr. Fowler that the fat stock for exportation Avere taken from 

 any part of the yards, whercA'er suitable animals could be found, and carried by boats 

 to the ocean-going steamers. There Avas no attempt made to keep such animals apai't 

 from such as might possibly come fr-om infected districts in Noav Jersey and adjacent 

 States, nor from the inclosures Avhero such cattle had formerly been, as indeed tchy 

 should there l>e, seeing the whole story of the disease icas a fabrication ? 



As bearing on the question of the probable infection of these yards, I shall add that 

 the malady is well known to exist iu Alexandria, Va. I have had tho most circum- 

 stantial reports of its existence around Washington. According to Dr. Corliss, it pre- 

 vails to some extent around NcAvark, N. J. Last year it made havoc in the town of 

 Clinton, and tho year before uear Burlington, N. J. Further, in making inquiry among 

 the farmers at New Lots, Kings County, New York, whoso herds are noAv infected, I 

 found that they had repeatedly traced the disease to Jersey cows brought into their 

 herds. There is, therefore, the strongest circiunstantial evidence that both the Jersey 

 and New York stock-yards, the two points from which cattle are shipped to Europe, 

 are infected jilaces, and that the apjiarent absence of disease in American cattle when 

 landed in England is due to the fact that they have not yet had time to pass through 

 the long incubation period of the disease. 



ABSUKDITY OF A CERTIFICATE OF SOUNDNESS. 



The professional examination at the yards of animals destined for exportation can 

 never be better than a farce. The most accomplished veterinarian has no means of 

 detecting the presence of the specific poison until the period of incubation has passed, 

 and as this lasts for from three weeks to two months, tho CAddence of infection con- 

 tracted in the New York stock-yards cannot jiossibly be recognized until long after 

 the animals have landed iu England. The great mass of our Western cattle is sound 

 Bo far as the contagious pleuro-pneumonia is concerned, and if infected, it is presuma- 

 bly only after they have been sent East. The disease, therefore, can only be in the 

 incubation stage so long as they remain on our shores, aud in this stage no man can 

 recognize it, though it only Avants time for its deA"elopmcnt. Any examination in 

 such a case must be tho most empty of forms, and must be prejudicial rather than 

 beneficial, inasmuch as it leads to the certifying of tho soundness of animals that may 

 be, and often probably are, infected. It is quite manifest that in tho case of cattle 

 that may haA-e been infected in tho New York or New Jersey stock yards, an examina- 

 tion a fortnight later on their landing in Liverpool would be almost as great a farce 

 as the examination prior to shipment at New York. Hence the soundness of the Eng- 

 lish position in ordering the slaughter at the quays of all cattle from an Lofected 

 country. 



TIIE COURSE OF SAFETY. 



If we can be assured that there is not yet an infected center in the great stock- 

 raising regions of the West, the cattle from there might be safely shipped to England 

 under the following regulations: 



1st. Lot tho Western cattle-trains bo made up of cars that have ncA'cr been used for 

 tho local cattle traffic iu tlie eastern parts of the Atlantic States or of such as have been 

 thoroughly cleansed aud disinfected before use. 



2d. Let all such trains bo from tho West through, and lot these take on board no 

 liA'o nor dead cattle, nor other unnianufactured products of cattle, east of given points 

 on the respective linos, such points to 1)0 designated as soon as aa'o knoAV conclusiA'ely 

 hoAV far the pleuro-pneumonia has extended AvcstAvard. Let such traius pass to des- 

 ignated stock-yards on tlio quays at least ono-fourth of a mile apart from all other 

 stock-yards, or cattle stables, or pastures. 



3d. Let such yards be rigidly closed against all visitors, no one being admitted ex- 

 cept the necessary attendants, and no one being employed as such Avho has recently 

 been in charge of other cattle iu the East. 



4th. Should it be necessary to sell any such stock ibr homo consumption, they mugt 



10 pw 



