502 History of Animal Plagues. 



department. I divided the infected country into three districts, 

 in each of which a veterinary surgeon [artiste vet^rinaire) was 

 stationed, to see that the treatment of the cattle was conformable 

 to the plan which had been traced. 



'The disease being contagious, and the locality in which it 

 reiffned beino- in the immediate neiffhbourhood of Mercantere, — 

 a canton very rich in cattle, — the district of Hesdin, and the valley 

 of Conche in Artois, I believed it to be indispensable to have 

 cordons of troops to prevent the epizooty from spreading into 

 them. With this view, detachments of soldiers were lodged in 

 the localities yet unaffected, and within half a league of the 

 suffering districts. The sentries on duty marched continually 

 backwards and forwards in communication with each other, and 

 prevented all dangerous communication. Rivers, and other likely 

 places, were taken advantage of to intercept intercourse; no 

 cattle were allowed to enter these cordons, neither were any per- 

 mitted to come from the interior of those districts where the 

 epizooty was prevalent. When it made further. progress, the 

 cordons fell back to the proper distance in the yet healthy dis- 

 tricts. There were also detachments of troops in all the infected 

 or suspected localities. Their duty was to make a particular 

 enumeration of all the cattle; to visit these twice a week, but 

 yet not to touch them ; to give timely notice to the veterinary 

 surgeons, or other inspectors empowered to carry out the orders 

 of the king, when there was an animal affected ; and, above all, to 

 watch that the numbers of the cattle in these places were neither 

 diminished nor increased without being duly reported to their 

 superiors. They were also to see that all graves were at least 

 eight feet in depth, and that there was one for each dead beast ; 

 that these were to be covered with firmly-trodden earth; they were 

 also to inspect the old graves, and to have them filled up when 

 sunk below the level. The disinfection of the stables, though 

 under the direction of the veterinary surgeon, was to be carried 

 on in their presence. They were to prevent cattle from travel- 

 ling or stopping on the highways or in the communes; all dogs 

 were to be shut up, or if found at large, or even in the yards of 

 their owners, they were to be destroyed, and the masters' names, 

 if discovered^ were to be reported. When necessary, they were 



