22 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



tagious and originating spontaneously here. I now knoiv, that 

 we may as soon expect the spontaneous generation of wolves in 

 Epping Forest, as tiie spontaneous outl^reak of pleuro-pneumonia 

 and epizootic aphtha in the British Isles." 



On the 1st of February, 1863, this present year, he sent a 

 circular to all the veterinary surgeons in the United Kingdom, 

 making inquiries on this very point of contagion, among others. 

 He got answers from about three hundred, and he says : " I 

 find that all the best veterinary surgeons in this country, whose 

 opportunities are most favorable to arrive at a sound conclusion, 

 attributed these diseases, (foot-and-mouth, and pleuro-pneumo- 

 nia) to contagion and infection." " Ninety-nine per cent, of 

 tlie dead cows carted from the town dairy die of contagious 

 pleuro-pneumonia." 



And again. " Whatever county I select as an illustration, it 

 will furnish you with the most unmistakable evidence tiiat our 

 cattle, our soil, our food and climate have nothing- to do ivith 

 the generation of pleuro-pneumonia ; but travelling, buying and 

 selling, transporting by steamers and railways, are the causes 

 which lead to the approximation of diseased and healthy, and 

 thus tend to the decimation of our stock." 



The Italics are mine, and I wish- to call especial attention to 

 this point, because some have attempted to lull the public mind 

 into a false and dangerous security, by trying to have it believed 

 that local causes, as want of ventilation, &c., have generated 

 the disease here among us. It is a most dangerous fallacy. 

 There is not the slightest ground for belief that a single case 

 ever arose in this country from any such causes. It is clearly 

 and unquestionably an imported disease, and if the whole truth 

 were known, every link in the chain would appear, as most of 

 them, in fact, do now. I might go farther: and say that it is 

 not generated spontaneously, according to the opinions of those 

 best capable of knowing, in any part of Western Europe. It is 

 probably brought from hotter climates. 



Some confusion has arisen from the fact that there are two 

 forms of the disease known as pleuro-pneumonia, one of which 

 is contagious and the other not. The latter has been known 

 among our cattle, to a very limited extent, from time immemo- 

 rial. 1 have heard of cases that occurred forty years ago. 



