508 VETEEINAEY HYGIENE 



330 borough authorities who viewed the suggested measure 

 of stopping importation of foreign cattle as an interference 

 with free trade, and described it as ' protection ' in disguise. 

 The result of this was that nearly 750,000 cases of the 

 disease were reported during the five years 1880-1884, 

 and during this time no less than 7,037 cattle arrived in 

 this country in an infected condition ! 



With all this experience before them the Government 

 could not be got to act, they were begged to stop the 

 importation from known affected countries, but the Foreign 

 Cattle Trade Association was too powerful for them, and 

 even enlightened members of Parliament declared publicly 

 that prohibition of importation would raise the price of 

 meat to 2s. 6d. a pound ! Finally, in 1886, permissive 

 legislation by local authorities was withdrawn, and the 

 power to act centralized. The ports were closed against 

 countries affected with Foot and Mouth Disease and the 

 Plague was exterminated, the country remaining free from 

 1887 to 1891. 



All this is very painful reading, and is given as support- 

 ing the contention at the beginning of this chapter, that if 

 a Government would not listen to interested parties and to 

 uneducated public opinion, but would accept the advice 

 of experts whose business it is to know, what a saving to 

 the wealth of the community and National Exchequer 

 would follow ! 



It is hardly likely that outbreaks of foot and mouth 

 disease can be entirely prevented, bearing in mind that the 

 affection is always present on the Continent, the facility 

 with which it is carried by human agency, and the exten- 

 sive traffic which exists between the Continent and Great 

 Britain. But we have nothing to fear from isolated out- 

 breaks if they are firmly grasped, as those have been in 

 recent years. 



Of all the contagious diseases of animals, there is none 

 where the virus is so persistent or so easily carried. Pro- 

 fessor Simmonds was known to declare that he could carry 

 it on the end of his walking-stick. A mysterious outbreak 



Digitized by Microsoft® 



