RINDERPEST. 377 



will reappear without apparent cause. For this reason the inspection 

 and other measures must be maintained in the infected district for 

 six months or a year after the last case of disease has been disposed of. 



Many people have objected to the slaughter of diseased and ex- 

 posed animals as an unscientific and expensive method of eradicating 

 the disease. To these it may be answered that it is the only method 

 which has e^er proved successful, and that in the end it is much 

 more economical than temporizing measures. 



Inoculation has been adopted in many countries, and has undoubt- 

 edly lessened the death rate, but where this practice is allowed the 

 disease is kept up and spreads. For this reason it should be prohib- 

 ited wherever there is a possibility and disposition to eradicate the 

 contagion. 



RINDERPEST. 



Rinderpest, also known as cattle plague, is an acute, infectious dis- 

 ease of cattle, in which the digestive organs are mainly involved. 

 Though unknown in this country, the importance of having near at 

 hand a few definite facts concerning this disease, should it ever 

 reach our shores, will be at once appreciated. A knowledge of such 

 facts may aid in an early recognition of the disease. It must not be 

 forgotten, on the other hand, that a superficial knowledge of dis- 

 eases, such as the layman may gain through reading, not infrequently 

 leads to confounding comparatively harmless, noninfectious mala- 

 dies with such as are truly dangerous (foot-and-mouth disease, 

 rinderpest, etc), and causes temporary panics among stock owners. 



According to some authorities, rinderpest has its home in the ter- 

 ritory around the Black Sea and the Volga Eiver in Russia ; accord- 

 ing to others, in Central Asia. Thence it has been conveyed at 

 various times by cattle to nearly every country of Europe and Asia, 

 where it has proved to be a veritable bovine scourge. It probably 

 visited Europe as early as the beginning of the Christian era, and 

 since then the migrations of the people from the Far East have from 

 time to time introduced the disease. Especially dviring the eight- 

 eenth century it was more or less prevalent in Europe, owing to the 

 frequent wars, during which herds of cattle were brought from east- 

 ern Europe and Asia to supply the demands of the armies. It pre- 

 vailed in Europe during the Franco-Prussian War. At present it 

 exists in Russia, South Africa, and the Philippines. 



The virus is conveyed from one country to another chiefly by means 

 of infected cattle, although infected hides, wool, and feed may play 

 an important part in its dissemination. The railroad facilities of the 

 present, which furnish the means of such rapid communication, are 

 particularly liable to aid in the spread of the disease. 



