FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE 307 



later a shipment of cattle was placed in the same yards, a 

 portion of the shipment was reshipped to Buffalo, and from 

 there a number of animals were sent to two towns in Penn- 

 sylvania in the neighborhood of which outbreaks of the 



Fiji. .14. Foot-nnd M.mth Disease 

 The rapid spread of disease is made possible by modern commercial conditions 



disease occurred as illustrated in the diagram. In ten days 

 the disease had traveled hundreds of miles. The rapid 

 and effective work of government officials saved the country 

 at that time from the permanent introduction of the disease. 

 The outbreak of 1914-15 was of unknown origin. It was 

 first noted in Michigan on October 15, 1914. Within ap- 

 proximately one month it had invaded nineteen States from 

 Washington in the West to Massachusetts in the East. 

 Some weeks later three additional' States were invaded by 

 the disease. This unparalleled rapidity of spread was due 

 to the fact that the great stockyards of Chicago became 

 infected early in the outbreak. The stream of animals into 

 the stockyards is continued by a much smaller stream of 

 animals leaving the yards to be sent to all parts of the 

 country. No more ideal way of spreading an acute disease 

 could be devised, and no more marked example of the role 

 of modern commerce in the distribution of disease has ever 



