SECRETARY'S REPORT. 45 



parison and enable others to judge whether our conclusions be 

 just. 



In 1844, Delafond published a work upon " contagious peri- 

 pneumonia." In this he traces the history of the disease from 

 quite a remote period down to his own time, and arrives at the 

 following conclusions : — 



1. That from 1693 until 1765, or during a period of seventy- 

 two years, epizootic diseases of the cliest prevailed among the 

 cattle of Germany and Switzerland ; but that the descriptions 

 of these diseases kept by Valentin, Kauscli, aifd Bucard Mau- 

 chard appear to belong to those of a putrid character, comi)li- 

 cated with dysentery and peripneumonia. 



2. That from 1765 to 1792, or during a period of twenty- 

 seven years, peripneumonia appeared to prevail only among the 

 cattle of mountainous countries, such as the Vosges, Switzer- 

 land, the Jura, the Dauphin^, the Alps, upper Silesia, Piedmont, 

 etc., without invading the level or highly cultivated countries, 

 except Champagne, Bourbonnais and the stables of Paris and 

 its Faubourgs, but in the latter places it reigned but temporarily. 



3. That at this time, (1765) Bourgelat first gave a good de- 

 scription of peripneumonia as it appeared among the cattle of 

 Cliampagne. 



4. That from 1792 to 1820, a period during which Europe 

 was the theatre of bloody wars, which desolated and impover- 

 ished it, epizootic pleuro-pneumonia prevailed temporarily. 



5. That from 1820 to 1827 there was a recrudescence of peri- 

 pneumonia among the animals of the mountainous parts of 

 Europe, and that then it seems to have invaded the higlily cul- 

 tivated regions and rich valleys of Italy, Germany, Prussia and 

 France. 



6. That it appears to have been introduced into Holland in 

 1833, into Belgium in 1837, and into England in 1842, by ani- 

 mals which had contracted the disease. 



7. That it prevails in many parts of the north-east and centre 

 of France, particularly in those near the capital, which are 

 highly cultivated, and in which constant changes are taking 

 place among cattle. 



8. That, on the contrary, the disease has never existed in 

 localities where no foreign cattle have been introduced. 



6* 



