No. 4.] RP:P0RT of cattle bureau. 351 



unlikely that the infection was brought over on a foreign 

 steamer in hay or in straw used for packing merchandise, 

 and in some way was carried to one of the places in this lo- 

 cality, and other herds nearby were contaminated. As the 

 lines of Chelsea, Revere and Everett converge at this point, 

 cases have been found in all three places, but the owners 

 of the cattle where the disease existed do not live very far 

 apart. 



It is said that foot and mouth disease assumes a milder 

 form in summer than in winter, and the herds first infected 

 probably had a form of the disease that was not particularly 

 virulent, and nothing was thought of it. It is very clear 

 that the cow that carried the trouble to Rhode Island went 

 directly from Chelsea to Brighton, and thence to Cumber- 

 land. Other cattle from the infected neighborhood found 

 their way later to the Brighton market, until the yards be- 

 came infected ; and in November it was carried in various 

 directions by different animals. The disease was taken to 

 Acton by two or three cows from Brighton, which contam- 

 inated the 100 head sold there at auction November 17. 



The inspector of animals of Maiden is a veterinarian. He 

 was called in a professional capacity the last of August to 

 see a herd of cattle in Revere, which he says showed symp- 

 toms of foot and mouth disease ; but he supposed that it did 

 not exist in the United States, and thought it was probably 

 something resembling it. He was about to go to Minneapo- 

 lis to a meeting of the American Veterinary Medical Asso- 

 ciation, held there the first week in September. Before 

 going he says he telephoned to the inspector of animals in 

 Chelsea, thinking at the time that the herd which he had 

 seen was in Chelsea and not in Revere, and supposed that 

 he had complied with the law requiring any one to report a 

 disease of an apparently contagious character to the local 

 inspector of animals. As the herd happened to be in Revere, 

 the Chelsea inspector was not the man to look after it, and 

 he says that he does not even remember receiving any noti- 

 fication. The Maiden veterinarian returned home after the 

 meeting, and never gave the subject a second thought until 

 the outbreak was called to public attention in the morning 



