The Lung Plague of Cattle. 



An ox of L. Stoddard's sickened two weeks after lie had 

 returned the diseased calf to his son, and soon died. 

 Two weeks later a second was taken ill and died ; then a 

 dozen in rapid succession. From this herd were infect- 

 ed those of the followiag : Messrs. Needham, Woodes, 

 Olmsted, and Huntingdon. Olmsted sold a yoke of oxen 

 to Doane, who lent them to assist with twenty-three yoke 

 of cattle in removing a building in North Brookfield. 

 These belonged to eleven different herds, all of which 

 were thereby infected. 



This will suffice to show how the disease was dissem- 

 inated. In the next four years it was found in herds in 

 the following towns : Milton, Dorchester, Quincy, Lin- 

 coln, Ashby, Boxborough, Lexington, Waltham, Hing- 

 ham, E. Marshfield, Sherborn, Dover, HoUiston, Ashland, 

 Natick, Northborough, Chelmsford, Dedham, and Na- 

 hant, and on Deer Island. 



By the spring of 1860 the State had been roused to its 

 danger, and in April an Act was passed "to provide for 

 the extirpation of the disease called pleuro-pneumonia 

 among cattle," which empowered the Commissioners to 

 km all cattle in herds where the disease was known or 

 suspected to exist. With various intervals this and suc- 

 ceeding commissions were kept in existence for six years, 

 and the last remnants of the plague having been extin- 

 guished, the last resigned definitely in 1866. The rec- 

 ords show that 1164 cattle were slaughtered by orders of 

 the Commissioners, in addition to others disposed of by 

 the Selectmen of the different towns in 1863, when the 

 commission was temporarily suspended. The money 

 disbursed by the State was $67,511.07, and by the in- 

 fected towns $10,000, making a grand total of $77,511.07, 

 in addition to all losses by deaths from the plague, de- 

 preciation, etc. Dr. E. F. Thayer, Newtown, was the 

 professional Commissioner who brought this work to a 

 successful end. 



