PLEUKO-PNEUMONIA. 615 



disappeared shortly after we imported it. Meat was less 

 consumed, the population was not so great, the cattle trade 

 not so brisk, and importation from foreign countries very 

 small. Observers last century noticed that " this disease, 

 like most infectious diseases affecting mankind, and imported 

 from distant countries, grows milder the longer it stays with 

 us."* Why shall we not learn from what our forefathers 

 recommended? Dr Layard said in 1757, "The means to 

 prevent this dreadful calamity are twofold: first, to pre- 

 vent the admission of this disease into these kingdoms; 

 secondly, when unfortunately the contagious distemper is 

 once received, to prevent the spreading and check the pro- 

 gress of it." 



Government should adopt means whereby information 

 may be had, at all times, of the extent and exact whereabouts 

 of the disease. A full and satisfactory inquiry should be 

 instituted into the trade in cattle with foreign countries, or 

 within the United Kingdom. The foul trade in diseased 

 meat should be suppressed, the sale of diseased live cattle 

 in public markets prohibited, and -sound knowledge diffused, 

 wherever the disease exists, as to the best methods of check- 

 ing it. All this implies no coercion. Pleuro-pneumonia 

 and every other imported disease may be permanently 

 banished from this country, and the day must come in which 

 such a glorious result will be attained, but not so long as we 

 submit to eating diseased meat, and to an unchecked traffic, 

 home and foreign, in infected cattle. 



When you. have clearly established the nature of a cause 

 of any disease, its influence can be counteracted by intelli- 

 gently-directed measures. The period of incubation of 



* The Complete Cow Doctor. By JOSHUA KOWLIN. Third Edition. 

 1804. 



