376 THE MEANS OF PREVENTION. 



pneumonia. Cattle are so phlegmatic, they can endure so much, 

 that but very few of them die from this disease ; yet it is a fact of 

 pathological interest, at least, that the fully developed simple pneu- 

 monia of cattle is the only form among our domestic animals which 

 bears a strong resemblance to the cheesy pneumonia of man. 



Mr. John Gamgee says that "England loses two million pounds 

 sterling annually from this disease." * 



Fleming says : " The losses from only two exotic bovine mala- 

 dies (contagious pleuro-pneumonia, and the so-called 'foot-and- 

 mouth disease ') have been estimated to amount, during the thirty 

 years that have elapsed since our ports were thrown open to foreign 

 cattle, to 5,549,780 head, roughly estimated at £83,616,854. The 

 late invasion of ' cattle-plague,' which was suppressed within two 

 years of its introduction, has been calculated to have caused a money 

 loss of from five to eight millions of pounds. But these examples 

 and estimates, after all, give but a slender idea of the devastation, 

 misery, embarrassment, and loss that have been due to ignorance, 

 apathy, and neglect of the teachings of veterinary science, which 

 must, nevertheless, claim the merit of having conclusively demon- 

 strated that the most formidable diseases can be readily repressed, 

 or altogether abolished, though not by attempting to cure them, and, 

 having done this, nothing more remains than to indicate the steps 

 necessary to make the legislation of a wise government effective in 

 its dealings with animal plagues in general." f 



It is scarcely possible for us to comprehend the monetary loss 

 this disease has caused since its history began, not to speak of the 

 misery it has brought upon many poor people. 



There is at present but one rule for its treatment : No temporiz- 

 ing. Immediate slaughter, and redemption by the Government. 



We have, fortunately, not yet been visited by the rinderpest. 

 Should that day ever come, there will be mourning in the land — 

 Columbia weeping for her property, and little comfort will she get 

 from church or State, unless we mend our ways and act more intelli- 

 gently. 



The people of this country have no idea as to the real nature of a 

 contagious animal disease. To this end it may be possible that they 

 need the presence of this destroyer. The horse epizootic of 1871 

 and 1872 was certainly infectious enough, but this disease is equally 

 infectious, and so much more devastating that it is impossible for 

 words to fitly express it. It is not slow and sneaking in its prog- 



* " Report on the Cattle Diseases in the United States," Washington, 1871. 

 I " Animal Plagues," introduction, p. xxxiv. 



