SECRETARY'S REPORT. 13 



three calves, which he brought by rail to West Brookfield, and 

 thence to his farm in North Brookfield. On the way from the 

 depot one of the calves was observed to falter, and in two or 

 three days became very sick. Mr. Leonard Stoddard, father of 

 Curtis Stoddard, thinking that he could cure the calf, carried 

 it to his own barn, in which were about forty head of cattle. 

 The calf grew no better and after four days young Stoddard 

 took it back to his own premises, where in about ten days it 

 died. About a fortnight after the calf left Leonard Stoddard's 

 farm one of his oxen that had been fed in the barn where the 

 calf was kept became sick and died after a two weeks' illness. 

 Two weeks after this, another ox sickened and died, and 

 another, and another, until thirteen oxen and cows had died, and 

 as subsequently appeared, his whole stock had become greatly 

 diseased. 



Mr. Curtis Stoddard lost no animal by infection, that is, none 

 died on his hands, up to the date of the commission. But the 

 sick calf, while it lived, had been kept in such a position that a 

 large part of his stock, consisting of twenty head or more, 

 were brought into near contact with it, and thus were exposed 

 to infection. By this statement it will be seen that from the 

 very commencement two distinct centres of infection were 

 formed: one at the younger Stoddard's, who brought the 

 diseased calf from Belmont, the other at his father's, where the 

 same calf had been kept for four days. The latter centre 

 proved to be far the most disastrous and fatal, as will be seen 

 in the progress of the narrative. 



Mr. Leonard Stoddard kept many oxen and was engaged 

 largely in the transportation of wood, timber, <fec. Of course 

 his cattle were constantly on the road, and often brought into 

 contact with animals belonging to other herds. He was also a 

 large dealer in cattle, often buying, selling and exchanging. 

 Although his cattle began to die in August, no suspicions of 

 the contagious nature of the disease seem to have been enter- 

 tained, and on the 15th of October he sold a cow to C. P. Hunt- 

 ington, of North Brookfield, about two miles distant, who had 

 a herd of twenty cows and two oxen. Not long after the pur- 

 chase of this cow, it sickened and died, and one after another 

 of his cows were attacked, until he had lost eight animals, 

 2* 



