Protection of Private Herds. 73 



stock, and those who buy from the dealer, that lose bj 

 the infection. As a single instance, I may repeat what an 

 Irish Earl (Lucan) told me of his experience. On his Irish 

 estates he lost heavily and continuously, until he decided 

 to exclude all strange cattle and men. The moment a 

 beast was observed sick he removed it from the herd, 

 and in three months his stock was healthy and continued ' 

 so. This is the common experience of those who breed 

 titeir own stock, and instances are given in this article of 

 its perfect success in the plague-stricken districts in 

 New York. 



(6) If compelled to buy, do so in a Jiealthy district and 

 transport in disinfected cars or by roads lohere there loill be 

 no contact with suspicious herds, and in no case through a 

 district in which infection is known to exist. 



(c) When neivly purchased cattle are taken in, place them 

 in quarantine in a safdy enclosed barn or lot, at least 100 

 faces distant from all other cattle, and under special attend- 

 ants. 



The need for these precautions must be evident, as the 

 disease sets in and makes some headway before even a 

 watchful attendant will observe any signs of illness. 



3. Measures for Eestricting the Mortality of the 

 Plague in Generally Infected Districts. 



(a) Preventive Medication. 



In infected herds much may be done to check the de- 

 velopment of individual cases, by the daily administra- 

 tion of astringent tonics, and especially if they are also 

 disinfectant. In herds at pasture and even in those kept 

 in close and notoriously infected city stables, the daily 

 use of 2 dx-achms sulphate of iron (ferric sulphate) has 

 frequently, in our experience, put a limit to the disease 

 within a month. If to the sulphate is added one drachm 

 of carbolic acid, the efficacy will be increased. The same 

 virtue has been claimed for a number of other astrin- 

 f^ents which it is needless to mention. 



