Stamping Out Possible. 65 



Of this possibility we have abundant evidence, alike in 

 the Old World and the New. In several countries of 

 Western Europe, through which there is no continuous 

 cattle traffic between nations on opposite sides, this dis- 

 ease has been killed out and permanently excluded by an 

 intelligent veterinary sanitary supervision. Sweden im- 

 ported the disease in Ayrshire stock in 1847, but at once 

 circumscribed the infected herds and places, slaughtered 

 the diseased, disinfected all with which they had come in 

 contact, and promptly extinguished the outbreak. Den- 

 mark, invaded the same year from a similar source, and 

 on several subsequent occasions from Holland and En- 

 gland, as often quenched the poison by analogous 

 measures. Oldenburg, Schleswig and Norway, success- 

 ively invaded by the importation of infected Ayrshires, 

 in 1858, 1859 and 1860, respectively, enjoyed a similar 

 happy riddance, through the application of the same sys- 

 tem of suppression. Switzerland, long slandered as the 

 native home of the lung plague, has at last awoke to the 

 truth of the statement of the immortal Haller, made 

 more than a century ago, that this disease only occurs 

 ' when an animal has been brought from an infected dis- 

 trict'; and by the judicious use of suppressive meas- 

 ures, has permanently rid the country of the pesti- 

 lence and demonstrated that the Alpine air is as clear 

 and wholesome for beast as for man. 



_ " In America, Massachusetts and Connecticut have fur- 

 nished examples equally striking. The former imported 

 the disease in Dutch cattle in May, 1859. In April, 1860, 

 when it had gained nearly a year's headway, an act was 

 passed, and a commission appointed, with full power to 

 extirpate it. After the slaughter of 932 cattle, it was 

 believed that this had been achieved ; but new centres 

 of infection were discovered in the two succeeding years, 

 and it was not until 1865 that the commonwealth was 

 purged of the poison. Since that year the lung fever 

 has been unknown in Massachusetts. Connecticut has 

 had a Uke experience. Her proximity to Ne w York City 

 d,nd Long Island has brought iipon her a series of inva- 

 sions ; but, profiting by the experience of her neighbor, 

 she has, on each occasion, grappled successfully with the 

 enemy, and driven him from her midst. 



