SECRETARY'S REPORT. 7 



The diiriculties which existed in tlie outset have not diminished, as 

 the work has gone on, and its extent has opened. Where there was at 

 first apathy there is now alarm. The calls to investigate districts where 

 the slightest suspicion rests, are incessant. Discoveries of recent 

 exposure are numerous ; and already the Commissionei's fear that, in 

 spite of their untiring efforts to pursue every animal that can possibly 

 have carried the disease with him, and to extirpate every vestige of his 

 path, some may have escaped them, and have carried the disease beyond 

 their reach. In addition to this, herds that have been confined through 

 the winter are now roaming over the pastures, and unless the infection 

 is checked at once, no man can tell the devastation which must attend 

 its course as it goes on from one enclosure to another, eluding the 

 strictest vigilance and defying the most careful investigation. 



In spite of all obstacles, the Commissioners have not hesitated to go 

 to the fullest extent of their powers in the discharge of their duty. 

 They have destroyed all that gave the slightest appearance of disease, 

 from the poor man's single cow to the large and choice collections of the 

 most extensive farmers. They have explored every spot which has 

 been brought to their notice as having been in any way exposed, and 

 have endeavored to ascertain the hmits beyond which it seems impossible 

 that the disease can have progressed. 



The central point of the infected district, it is well known, is North 

 Brookfield, the farm of Leonard Stoddard, into which the disease was 

 thoughtlessly and innocently introduced, and fz'om which it has been 

 allowed carelessly, to go out. Around this spot the destruction is 

 complete ; but few animals, indeed, being left in the unfortunate town. 

 The disease has been discovered in the north, in those parts of New 

 Braintree, Oakham and Rutland, lying contiguous to North Brookfield ; 

 on the east, in Spencer ; on the south, in Brookfield and Sturbridge, and 

 on the west, in West Brookfield, Ware, and Warren, It is believed 

 that the precise course and extent of the disease have been explored in 

 each of those towns. 



The number of persons whose cattle have been condemned or destroy- 

 ed, is 75. The number of animals already marked or killed, is 750. 



The Commissioners wish they could assure the Board of Agriculture 

 and the community that their work will end here. But they cannot. 

 The fire that is wasting prairie and forest may apparently be quenched 

 for a time, and it is only when, on the distant horizon, its terrific work 

 is painted, and heaven and earth seems all ablaze, that the insidious and 

 appaUing power of the illusive element comes home to the heart of its 

 pursuers. 



This is not the time nor the place to enter into an investigation of the 

 history and character of the disease — that, it is hoped, may be done 



