156 . CONTAGIOUS DISEASES. 



following day (the 27th) all the animals were slaughtered, and 

 their carcases were placed on lighters and sunk. The hatches 

 of these lighters were improperly fastened, and the carcases 

 floated again, and were washed ashore on different parts of the 

 coast. This washing ashore of the infected carcases caused 

 much alarm, and it was feared the contagion would thus be con- 

 veyed. However, no evil results followed. 



The origin of the disease at Patrington and Yapham is as 

 follows : — " The ship with the diseased cattle on board was lying 

 for two days in the Humber Dock, close to the ' Forin,' and not 

 five hundred yards from the cattle market, and, in spite of all 

 that could be done, there was an open communication between 

 the vessel and the shore. 



" Tor nearly a fortnight cattle affected with the plague had 

 stood on the ship's — the ' Joseph Soames ' — deck, and it is surely 

 no exaggeration to say that the amount of contagmm in the 

 excretions which had accumulated was sufficient to infect every 

 head of cattle in the kingdom. 



" Is it necessary, then, to question the probability of some of 

 the virus being carried into the Hull market only the day after 

 the carcases of the Eussian oxen were sent to sea ? The precise 

 manner of the conveyance of the poison has not been, and 

 certainly will not be ascertained. No one, in short, saw one of 

 the men who had been engaged about the diseased cattle rub 

 his hand or coat against an animal in the market or on its way 

 thereto. But when a centre of infection has been established, it 

 is not usual to cavil much about the possible means of com- 

 munication between that centre and a place a few hundred 

 yards off. 



" The next hnk in the chain of facts is the purchase of two 

 animals, a heifer and a steer, at the auction sale in Hull market 

 on July 29th, by a butcher at Patrington. These came from 

 farms in the neighbourhood of Hull, where no disease had 

 existed. They were taken by railway on the day of purchase to 

 Patrington, and placed in a field adjoining one belonging to Mr, 

 Sanderson, a miller, whose stock — two cows and two calves — 

 were grazing in his meadow. 



" Twelve days after reaching the field at Patrington, the heifer 

 in the butcher's field was found to be HI, and was slaughtered 

 on August 12th. A difficulty occurs here, which we hasten to 



