468 VETEKINARY HYGIENE 



the Board of Agriculture. It consisted of Professors Sim- 

 monds and Brown, with Dr. Wilhams as ' Medical Adviser,' 

 and Colonel Harness, R.E., as Secretary. But the Privy 

 Council was in a hopeless condition, it issued orders in 

 rapid succession which were neither understood nor acted 

 upon, and finally appealed for a Eoyal Commission to 

 investigate the disease (Duckham). 



The Eoyal Commission, of which only one member 

 was a Veterinary Surgeon, confirmed the opinion of the 

 veterinary experts as to the necessity for destruction, 

 which advice had caused a perfect storm in the agricultural 

 world, in which the whole veterinary profession was held 

 up to ridicule and unmeasured insults. The same Com- 

 mission also recommended the stoppage of all cattle traffic 

 in the country, and placed this matter in the hands of the 

 local authorities to carry out, with disastrous results. 



At last the country becoming alarmed at the impotence 

 of the Government sent many deputations, and finally 

 held a great national conference in St. James's Hall, 

 which led to the passing of the Cattle Diseases Prevention 

 Bill in 1866 ; the same year saw the formation of the 

 Chamber of Agriculture, the pressure of which finally pro- 

 duced a Minister and Board of Agriculture, to safeguard 

 the flocks and herds of the country. 



The only object in raking up a chapter in history now 

 almost forgotten, is to explain that we have gained very 

 little by bitter experience, for an old nation is like an old 

 man, narrow, conservative, and unable to learn ; hence the 

 reason why there are still diseases in our midst that legisla- 

 tion could control to-morrow, and others where the legisla- 

 tion or its machinery is so defective, that little impression 

 is made on the diseases against which they are enforced. 



Legislation to exterminate animal plagues must be 

 thorough, half measures are useless. No one expects 

 a Minister of Agriculture to understand pathology, bac- 

 teriology, or hygiene,* but he is furnished with the best 



* In spite of this, within the last two years, a Minister of Agricul- 

 ture has ventured to lecture on the spontaneous origin of contagious 



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