564 THE PRACTICE OF VETERINARY MEDICINE. 



I do not consider the above to be an 'important fact/ 

 neither do I consider the observation of Mr. Greene to be 

 fraught with importance of the slightest magnitude, so far 

 as proving the disease to be non-contagious or non-infectious 

 is concerned. On the contrary, I consider that, if it proves 

 anything, it will be found to be evidence rather in favour 

 of, than against, the contagious and infectious theories; 

 for although no other horse had been near the island from 

 the date of the arrival of the horse in question, still the 

 infection would be able to reach the island in many ways. 

 Might it not have been conveyed to the island by birds ? 

 or by the owner or attendant of the animal, whom it is to 

 be presumed would visit the animal occasionally '? or may 

 not the poison have been present in the animal's system 

 even before being taken to the island ? Again, horses and 

 cattle are very frequentl}^ pastured together. There may 

 have been a number of cattle, sheep, or other animals on 

 this island that were removed there from an infected dis- 

 trict. The horse may have acquired the disease from them. 

 Yet even supposing that none of the above causes operated 

 to convey the disease to the horse — supposing that no other 

 animals w^ere pastured there, that no man, bird, or other 

 living thing visited the island during all this time, and that 

 the horse was free from taint of any disease at the time of 

 leaving St. John's — I say, even supposing all the above to 

 be the case, is the fact that the animal contracted the dis- 

 ease under these apparently unfavourable circumstances for 

 its development, sufficient evidence to cause any man, who 

 cares to look beneath the surface, to change his belief for 

 disbelief in the contagion and infection of influenza 1 I 

 think not ; for microscopic particles of the contagious prin- 

 ciple or virus might yet find their way to the island through 

 the media of the air, and being taken into the air passages 

 of the horse, in due course, produce their peculiar effects. 



