CATTLE PLAGUE. 153 



it can very truly be said that some of the local authorities tried 

 to suppress these diseases, and would have succeeded, had it not 

 been for the laxity of other local authorities. 



The origin of the outbreak of 1865 is, according to Professors 

 Simonds, Gamgee, and others, as follows: — "Early in 1865 an 

 Enghshman, James Burchell, was engaged in the Eussian pro- 

 vince of Esthonia collecting together a cargo of cattle for the 

 English trade. He was in partnership with Mr. John Honck 

 and a Mr. Baker. The Esthonian Agricultural Society had 

 undertaken to supply Burchell with 800 oxen and 800 sheep. 

 The Society collected 640 oxen at Eevel, out of which 400 had 

 to be chosen. 46 of these animals had travelled from St. Peters- 

 burg or its neighbourhood, in four horse waggons, but the 

 remainder were Esthonian oxen. The steamer 'Tonning' left 

 London on the 9th or 10th of May, and arrived at Eevel on the 

 16tli or 17th. She left Eevel with 331 oxen and 330 sheep 

 selected by Mr. Burchell." 



Professor Gamgee says — " I have taken considerable pains to 

 investigate the documents relating to these transactions ; and of 

 the oxen chosen by Mr. Burchell, three were sold sick to a 

 butcher named Siehbert in Eevel, one died, and a fifth was ill 

 after the steamer had left Esthonia. 



"According to Burchell 13 of the 46 oxen from the interior of 

 Eussia were amongst those shipped for England. Mr. John 

 Honck says that all the cattle placed on board the ' Tonning ' 

 were Esthonian. The St. Petersburg cattle were, however, mixed 

 with the Esthonian cattle at Eevel ; and although they might 

 not be seriously ill, it is a well-known fact that Eussian cattle 

 infect others when they themselves are not suffering, or are very 

 slightly attacked. The plague was in the vicinity of St. Peters- 

 burg at the end of 1864, and probably later. 



" The oxen purchased by Mr. Burchell were to have been 

 landed in Loudon, but they were entered in the manifest for 

 Lowestoft, ' so as to avoid the doctors.' I have seen a letter in 

 which this sentence occurs. After all, the steamer made for 

 Hull. The cattle were inspected at Hull ; but it appears that, 

 owing to the number being so very great, the inspection was 

 not a very rigid one — 600 animals having been inspected in three 

 hours and a half by two inspectors. 



" On the arrival of the cattle at HuU, Mr. Honck ' put them in 



