I 
200 Report on the Trade in Animals. 
the Irish Veterinary Department is, however, essentially different 
from that of the English. In Ireland there are no " local autho- 
rities," and the administration of the Cattle Diseases Acts is 
carried out entirely by the Royal Irish Constabulary, under the 
direction of Professor Ferguson, the chief of the Veterinary De- 
partment in Dublin, Whatever objections may be urged against 
this particular development of the principle of centralisation, it 
has one undoubted merit, that it secures uniformity of action 
throughout the country. On the other hand it tends to diminish, 
as will be seen, the sense of local magisterial responsibility, one 
result being that offenders against the law are not always ade- 
quately punished on conviction. 
The administrative work of the department being entirely in 
the hands of a disciplined force, and all reports being forwarded 
to one central authority on a uniform plan, are conditions which 
must enable the Irish Veterinary Department to keep a more 
watchful eye on the development or the subsidence of an epi- 
zootic, than is possible under the English system. 
According to the detailed returns in the possession of the 
Veterinary Department,* it appears (see Table V.) that in 
January, 1871, there were only six farms or other places in Ire- 
land which were reported as affected with foot-and-mouth disease ; 
in February there were only four, and in March five. During 
April and May not a single infected place was reported, and 
Ireland was therefore regarded as entirely free from the disease. 
However, on June 1st the reappearance of foot-and-mouth was 
reported from Castle Pollard, in county Westmeath, and was 
said to have been brought by calves imported from England. 
Whether this was the case or not, by the end of June, 12 
infected places had been reported ; during July the number in- 
creased to 338, and in August to 2414, so rapidly did the disease 
spread ; in September the number rose to 3038, and in October 
it attained the maximum number of 4058 infected places. In 
November there were 3415, and in December 2679 infected 
places. During the whole year no fewer than 220,570 cattle, 
21,178 sheep, and 23,036 pigs (see Table VI.) were reported 
as affected with the disease ; but, as already stated, nearly the 
whole of these must have received the germs of contagion 
during the last six months of the year. 
The distribution of the disease presents some points of interest. 
Table VI. shows that considerably more than one-half the affected 
animals were reported from the province of Leinster ; and if to that 
total we add the reported cases from the counties of Tipperary 
and Waterford, we get about three-fourths of the total number. 
* The publication of these Returns in the Society's 'Journal' has been kindly 
sanctioned by His Excellency the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. 
