CONTAGIOUS DISEASES OF DOMESTICATED ANIMALS. 19 



without great loss, wbeu without it more than half of the uew cows brought into then 

 would surely die. 



Another fact of great importance brought out by the experiments of the French 

 pleuro-pneumonia commission is that about 30 per cent, of the animals exposed to this 

 disease show no symptoms of it beyond a slight cough. Snch animals are probably as 

 dangerous toothers as those which have it in a more severe form, and yet they can be 

 transported to various parts of the country without exciting the least suspicion. 



Tlie auinuil which is supposed to have caused the outbreak in C(mnecticnt was prob- 

 ably in this «on(litiou, as a careful examination of her luugs did not enable the veter- 

 inarians to detect any evidences of the disease ; and yet pleuro-jineumonia existed 

 in thestal)le from which she came, and her admission iuto the new herd was followed 

 by the seven cases that have been mentioned. Similar instances are referred to again 

 and again by the veteriuarians of every country where the disease exists. 



These infected districts, though small, are then a real danger to the whole country, 

 because all the way from Connecticut to Virginia there is a large and increasing num- 

 ber of herds of thoroughbred cattle, which are frequently ship])ed to the West and 

 sonie of which have from time to time been infected with this disease. Fortunately, 

 the owners of thoroughbred cattle have generally had too much regard for their repu- 

 tation to ship cattle when there was any disease in their herds, and the common cat- 

 tle have not been sent to a sufficient distance to do much harm. 



But with the increased price of cattle a large number are being shipped from the 

 East toward the West, and the danger of carrying the disease is consequently increas- 

 ing. If the car-load of cattle shipjjed from Baltimore to Chester County, Pennsyl- 

 vania, had gone to the ranges of the West, they might have done irreparable harm. 

 Again, the thoroughbred Jersey cow which went from an infected stable in New Jer- 

 say might as readily have been shipped to the W^est; and I have been informed that 

 if the Connecticut outbreak had occurred a few months later one or more of theherds 

 would have been sent, according to contract, to a Western State. Now, while it is 

 true that i)leuro-pneimionia has existed in the East for forty years without having 

 been carried to the West, it mnst be admitted, from what has occurred so many times 

 in Pennsylvania and Connecticut, that there has been danger of this, and that this 

 danger is increasing with the larger number of cattle now being shipped in that direc- 

 tion. No doubt this danger has been exaggerated, but the fact that there is danger, 

 and that the disease once carried to the AVestern herding grounds would probably be 

 beyond our control, if we can judge from the experience of Australia and South Af- 

 rica, issufticient to show the importance of grappling with it while it can be so easily 

 handled. The rapidity with which a disease spreads on these ranges, when once in- 

 troduced, is illustrated by an occurrence of last summer in Southwestern Texas. A 

 drove of cattle brought a commuiiical)le dist ase to that section, which the army sur- 

 geons believed to b(> contagious ])leuro-i>uenmonia ; but before any careful examination 

 could be made several hundred cattlehad died, and a large territory was infected. For- 

 tunately, investigation showed that this was not pleuro-pneumonia, buta disease which 

 does not outlast a single season of the year. If it had proved to be pleuro-pneumonia, 

 would it not have been a national calamity ? With a large territory already infected, 

 with no numey and no power to control the disea.se, and occurring in summer months, 

 before the State and national legislative bodies would convene, it is difficult to see 

 how any etfcctive measure coulil have been adopted. 



TIIK INKl'FICIENCY OK STATE ACTION. 



Though a number of attempts have been made by the States now infected to rid 

 themselves of pleuro-pneumonia these have generally or always tailed, because for 

 various reasons the work was not thoroughly done. We saw the State authorities 

 of Connecticut unable to exterminate the disease a few months <ago, when but a sin- 

 gle herd contained sick animals. The stables of Brooklyn were never under com- 

 plete supervision, and some could not be entered by the inspectors even when the 



