90 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



March. 



PLEUBO-PNEUMONIA IN CATTLE. 



We have before us an exceedingly interesting let- 

 ter from Mr. Secretary Flint to Gov. Andrew, 

 in relation to this disease among the cattle in Eu- 

 rope, together with some reference to our State 

 laws in regard to it, and the opinion of the Sec- 

 etary, sustained by indubitable facts, that the dis- 

 ease is strictly a contagious one. We have never 

 doubted this fact, since our examination of the 

 cattle smitten with the disease at North Brook- 

 field, where it was first permanently developed. 

 We should be glad tc# publish the whole letter, 

 had we room, but give all the leading points be- 

 low. The Secretary is entitled to the thanks of 

 the community for the open and bold avowal of 

 his opinions on the subject. 



Is it not time that something were done by our 

 people to call the instant and earnest attention of 

 the legislature to a matters of such vast moment ? 

 How long shall we slumber on, and allow this 

 "pestilence that walketh by noonday," to fasten 

 itself upon one of the leading industrial interests 

 of the country, paralyzing and poisoning it, and 

 at the same time introducing a festering corrup- 

 tion and death into our midst ! Will the farmer 

 of Massachusetts, the Farmers' Clubs, take no 

 note of these warnings, until the glaring eyes and 

 haggard appearance of their stock notify them 

 that disease is running riot in their stalls and that 

 death stands at the door. Now is the time to pour 

 in petitions for further action by the Legislature. 



Agricultural Department, State House, t 

 Boston, December 24th, 1863. { 



To His Excellency John A. Andrew : — Dear 

 Sir, — The disease commonly called pleuro-pneu- 

 monia still exists among the herds of some twelve 

 or fifteen towns of this Commonwealth. The 

 most moderate estimates fix the loss by pleuro- 

 pneumonia alone, in the British Isles, at ten mil- 

 lions of dollars a year. The value of cattle lost 

 by that disease amounts to two or three times the 

 value of all the cattle imported. More than a 

 million head of horned cattle died of pleuro- 

 pneumonia in the six years ending with 1860, of 

 a value of at least sixty millions of dollars. 



Prof. Gamgee, a man of high scientific attain- 

 ments as a veterinarian, and having the confidence 

 of the British Government as such, says : 



"The traffic in diseased animals is impoverish- 

 ing stockholders and the country at large. My 

 calculations, made under the most favorable cir- 

 cumstances, show that the United Kingdom never 

 loses less than forty millions of dollars annually 

 by disease among cattle, sheep and pigs. Half 

 that loss is annually due to foreign contagious 

 diseases." 



"The contamination of the animal food supplies 

 has affected the health of the people to an extent 

 becoming more and more appreciated the more 

 the subject is investigated." 



"The tens of thousands of carcasses of diseased 

 animals, sold in large towns, are stealing life from 

 human beings when and where we least expect 

 it." 



"Last year," says Gamgee, employed in exten- 

 sive investigations under the authority and direc- 

 tion of the government, "my opinion became con- 

 firmed that the flesh of cattle affected with pleu- 

 ro-pneumonia, when eaten by man, induces boils 

 and carbuncles to an incredible extent." 



After speaking of the immense losses in Eu- 

 rope, and the inadequacy of our laws to protect 

 the community, the Secretary says : 



There would seem to be no longer any reason- 

 able doubt that the disease is contagious and dan- 

 gerous to a very high degree. Every step of its 

 history in this State has shown this to be the case, 

 even if it had not not already been well known 

 before, from its history abroad. 



We know it is contagious. We knew it on its 

 first introduction, four or five years ago. The ev- 

 idence then, as now, was so conclusive and over- 

 whelming that it would seem that any one, who 

 could doubt, with only a limited knowledge of the 

 facts, would doubt all human testimony, even that 

 of his own senses. I could fill many pages with 

 the opinions of the most competent and learned 

 veterinarians as well as practical men, all going to 

 show its purely contagious origin. 



I have before me now the written opinions on 

 this point of nearly all the veterinary surgeons in 

 Great Britain, several hundred in number, and, so 

 far as I am aware, not one of them expresses a 

 doubt upon the point. 



On the 1st of February, 1863, Prof. Gamgee 

 sent a circular to all the veterinary surgeons in 

 the United Kingdom, making inquiries on this 

 very point of contagion, among others. He got 

 answers from about three hundred, and he says : 

 "I find that all the best veterinary surgeons in 

 this country, whose opportunities are most favor- 

 able to arrive at a sound conclusion, attributed 

 these diseases (foot-and-mouth and pleuro-pneu- 

 monia) to contagion and infection." "Ninety- 

 nine per cent, of the dead cows carted from the 

 town dairy die of contagious pleuro-pneumonia." 



And again. "Whatever county I select as an 

 illustration, it will furnish you with the most un- 

 mistakable evidence that our cattle, our soil, our 

 food and climate have nothing to do ivith the gen- 

 eration of pleuro-pneumonia ; but travelling, buy- 

 ing and selling, transporting by steamers and 

 railways, are the causes which lead to the approxi- 

 mation of diseased and healthy, and thus tend to 

 the decimation of our stock." * 



The Italics are mine, and I wish to call especial 

 attention to this point, because some have attempt- 

 ed to lull the public mind into a false and danger- 

 ous security, by trying to have it believed that lo- 

 cal causes, as want of ventilation, &c, have gen- 

 erated the disease here among us. It is a most 

 dangerous fallacy. There is not the slightest 

 ground for belief that a single case ever arose in 

 this country from any such causes. It is clearly 

 and unquestionably an imported disease, and if 

 the whole truth were known, every link in the 

 chain would appear, as most of them, in fac v , do 

 now. I might go farther and say that it is not 

 generated spontaneously, according to the opin- 

 ions'of those best capable of knowing, in any part 

 of Western F.urope. It is probably brought from 

 hotter climates. 



In what I have said I have no personal interest, 

 either direct or indirect, to subserve, and in urg- 



