1 6 Veteri7iary Medicine. 



cause of the disease is a particular microbe the complete extinc- 

 tion of that microbe, not only at once cuts short the existing' 

 epizootic, but absolutely excludes the possibility of that disease 

 arising anew. The present losses are promptly cut short, and all 

 future losses, which would otherwise have gone on to the end of 

 time, are absolutely prevented. 



And yet such absolute extinction is objected to because of the 

 cost. Which is greater — the present outlay to pay for even lo per 

 cent, of a susceptible race when this will put an end to all such 

 losses for all future time ; — or the temporizing to save a fraction 

 of this ID per cent, at the certain cost of the maintenance of the 

 disease and losses year by year for hundreds or* thousands of 

 years, together with the equally galling tax for the sanitary police 

 restrictions through all these centuries ? 



In spite of the present claims for immunization and other half- 

 way measures, the only truly ideal and economical method is that 

 which destroys every germ of the infection, so that no future 

 cases can possibly occur. This is, however, restricted largely to 

 acute infectious diseases, the germs of- which have no saprophytic : 

 life outside the bodj^ of the host. 



For some affections, like foot and mouth disease, the object 

 may be accomplished by stopping all intercourse between animals, 

 and herds, the exclusion of man, beast, vermin, birds and insects, 

 and accompanied and followed by an exhaustive disinfection of 

 the premises and every object that may have been exposed even 

 remotely to infection. In all cases the exposure of susceptible 

 animals, or those that have been near them or their products 

 or any unfenced place or within reach of other animals, must be 

 made a penal offence. 



For other more fatal affections of this kind, the removal (usu- 

 ally the slaughter) of the infected, the disinfection of the car- 

 cases, premises, products and contaminated things, and the ex- 

 pert control and daily testing of the survivors, are important ad- 

 ditional measures. 



When the cost of expert control for a long period would ap- 

 proach the actual value of the herd, it is often better to buy them 

 out and kill the whole at once so as to purify the premises at 

 once and allow the owner to continue his business and earn a- 

 living. 



