252 Inoculation for Pleuro- Pneumonia in Cattle, 



disease. It is a somewhat singular circumstance, that for three 

 months after the appearance of Pleuro-pneumonia in the summer 

 of 1849, the disease was entirely confined to the cows inhabiting 

 one particular shed, although a free communication exists between 

 this shed and the others where the cattle are placed. It was 

 thought that this circumstance depended somewhat on imperfect 

 ventilation, and steps were taken to remedy this supposed defect ; 

 still, however, this shed has throughout yielded by far the larger 

 number of cases. Very little preference has been shown by the 

 disease for either the fatting or milking cows, but the more 

 recently purchased animals have generally suffered the most. 



It is a fact, worthy of a passing remark, that a bull which had 

 been two years on the premises, was at the time of our visit in 

 perfect health ; and also that another bull, which had free access 

 to the cows in the fatal years of 1849 and 50, completely resisted 

 the influence of the contagion. Both these animals were in turn 

 made to live in a shed which adjoins the one previously described 

 as being remarkably unhealthy ; besides which, cow after cow was 

 attacked while being tied up in a stall immediately contiguous 

 to that occupied alternately by the bulls. We may further ob- 

 serve that the causes of the fatality are by no means apparent ; 

 the animals are liberally fed, well attended to, and not over 

 crowded into confined or ill-ventilated sheds. They are of the 

 " short-horn " breed, and mostly of middle age. 



Various measures have from time to time been adopted to 

 arrest the progress of the disease, but the effects have not been 

 marked with any decided benefit. We here close the history of 

 the disease in Mr. Paget's establishment prior to the introduction 

 of inoculation, the particulars of which we shall now proceed to 

 describe. 



On the 27th of November sixteen animals were selected for 

 the operation ; of these, twelve were inoculated on the under 

 surface of the tail, near to its extremity, by superficial punctures, 

 and four by deep punctures through the skin, after the manner of 

 Dr. Willems. It is necessary, however, to add that these deep 

 punctures were cleanly made with a sharp lancet^ and not with a 

 bad-cutting " double-edged " scalpel, such as we s^w forcibly thrust 

 through the skin, and twisted about in the wound by Dr. 

 Willems. This fact led to our remarking, in the former Report, 

 that "surgical and scientific principles did not rule in these 

 operations " on the Continent ; and it is essential to allude to the 

 circumstance again, because of the results which attended on 

 these our first experiments. 



The material employed for the inoculation was the serous fluid 

 pressed from a diseased lung, and of this two or three drops were 

 placed in each wound. Care was taken to have this fluid as fresh 



