CONTAGIOUS DISEASES OF DOMESTICATED ANIMALS. 175 



it is hard to wait for the slow growth of public opinion whilo infancy 

 and manhood are being cut down indiscrin)inately by a preventable con- 

 tagion, and while even he himself must continually run the gauntlet of 

 the deadly blow of the insatiate enemy. Every instinct of sanitation, 

 of justice, of humanity, of self-preservation, and of morality rebels against 

 the inditt'erence of the people, but more particularly of the statesmen. 

 But it is with tuberculosis for animals in general as with lung plague 

 for cattle in particular, or with glanders for solipeds and man, the retri- 

 bution for neglect is not executed with that promptitude which strikes 

 terror to the mind ; the laity fail to connect the final desolation with 

 the distant cause, and the most deadly of all contagia is permitted to 

 hold on its darksome way unchecked. 



A single case of cholera, yellow fever, or even of small pox in a large 

 city is considered good cause for excited editorials in the newspapers 

 and for extraordinary etforts on the part of boards of health, while 

 every daj^ from January to December scores are perishing unnecessarily 

 from the more insidious and far more deadly tuberculosis. 



The control of this affection cannot be advocated as either cheap or 

 easy, or likely to be crowned by an early extinction of the disease as 

 would be the case with lung plague. It will entail an immense organ- 

 ization, large expenditure, and persistent application, not only until all 

 our flocks and herds are purified, but until the present tuberculous gen- 

 eration of men have given place to a healthier, and until by a slow im- 

 provement, generation by generation, the population shall have finally 

 risen above this bane of our civilization. It is, however, a work that 

 may be profitably undertaken by installments, first in the abattoirs and 

 dairies of our large cities and suburbs, then in our markets for live stock, 

 and our great emporia for butcher meat, then in all our large public in- 

 stitutions, and finally in our flocks and herds at large. It may safely be 

 predicted for the city that will take the first effectual step in this direc- 

 tion that the showing made by her vital statistics will soon attest the 

 wisdom of the course. The results will be no less beneficial to the stock 

 owner, for apart from the protection of his own health and the assur- 

 ance furnished him that he is providing a wholesome food for the people, 

 his herds will be saved from a contagion which now causes incalculable 

 losses over the entire country. 



Upon our statesmen the burden of all this responsibilitj' rests. They 

 are intrusted with the expenditure of the nation's money, and with this 

 trust they^^become severally resi)onsible for every evil which it is in their 

 power to ward off". To wait for the irresistible pressure of public oj^in- 

 ion in a matter such as this, which ai)peals so strongly to their hunum- 

 ity, their religion, their patriotism, and self-preservation, is unworthy 

 of the high i)lace they hold and the charge which the i)e()i)le have con- 

 fided to them. They have been chosen to do the work of legislation for 

 which the people at large have no time ; it is theirduty to consider these 

 matters when laid before them and to acton them, and on them must rest 



