38 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



unsntisfactory, but <)iii)()rtniiities are constantly presenting- tlicniselves 

 ti) test the fact that privations, overcrowding-, impure food and water, 

 &C., singly or combined, may kill, but never induce tlie disease which 

 l)resents the characters of the one referred to in this report. 



The malady may be induced at will, by placing an animal suffering 

 from it among healthy ones, and by direct inoculation. These are 

 only methods by Avhicli it is propagated. 



Careful experiments have been instituted on this subject, and althougli 

 it might be easy to refer to very numerous observations, it may suffice 

 at present to quote from aTrencli report, edited by Professor Bouley, 

 and which was prepared by a committee of distinguished agricultur- 

 ists, medical aud veterinary professors, at the request of the minister 

 of agriculture. 



FIRST SERIES OF EXPERniENTS. 



The first series of experiments was conducted at Pomerage, in the 

 well-known and vast domain of Eambouillet. The wliole is inclosed in 

 walls, surrounded by woods, and perfectly isolated. A stable was sep- 

 arated into two distinct compartments. In the first, designated A, with 

 a southwest exposure, was a single door leading out on a sutficiently 

 wide plot of ground, bounded by water w^here the cattle could be taken 

 to drink. Every precaution was taken to prevent the cattle in A from 

 coming within reach of those in a second stable, B. The latter was 

 situated to the left of A, and completely separated by a solid wall. 



Pleuropneumonia had never existed in the commune of Rambouillet. 

 Messrs. Renault, Delafond, and Jouet chose the cattle and subjected them 

 to a close examination. The herd consisted of three bulls and seventeen 

 cows. These animals were distinguished by names and numbers, and 

 distributed in the two stables in relation to age, breed, and sex, so as to 

 secure an equable distribution. 



Three sick cows were sent to Eambouillet on the 14th of :N^ovember, 

 1851 ; one from the Departement du :N^ord, the second from INIont Souris, 

 aud the third from Vaugirard. Three more sick cows w^ere sent on the 

 2d of December, 1851. Of these six sick animals, three died and three 

 recovered. One lived three days in stable A, a second five days and a 

 night in the same, and the third, in stable B, survived ten days a)id two 

 nights. 



Of the three sick cows that recovered, one, admitted into stable A on 

 the 10th of Xovember, presented symptoms of the malady up to the 20th 

 of December, viz: for thirty-four days. The second entered stable B on 

 the 2d of December, and Avas sick for nineteen days. The third, also 

 admitted in the same stable, continued ill for twenty-eight days. 



ISfahlc yl.— On the 21st of :N^ovember, 1851, viz: only six days after 

 the introduction into this stable of two sick cows, a peculiar cough was 

 shown by two cows, (T.a Noire, No. 1(5, and Nornm, No. 2.) Their lungs 

 aj)i>('ared sound, and they continued to eat and ruminate. 



