Report on the Health of Animals of the Farm. 
375 
diseases also have been less rife, and notably the one commonly 
known as 'foot-and-mouth disease.' Early in the year this 
malady bejjan to decline, both in severity and extent, in many 
parts of Great Britain and Ireland ; and since then, with few 
exceptions, the decrease has been fully maintained. Legisla- 
tive measures may possibly have contributed to this desirable 
end ; but the history of the affection, as belonging; to this 
country, clearly proves that, independently of any such means, 
* foot-and-mouth disease ' has been for long periods of time 
together so little prevalent as to attract scarcely any public 
attention. The outbreak, the decline of which we now record, 
commenced in the summer of 1869, and extended onwards to 
1870-71 and '72. Doubtless it has proved a most severe visita- 
tion ; but those who are familiar with the extent and malignancy 
of foot-and-mouth disease in 1839-'40 and '41 recognise a 
parallel instance of its duration, acme, and decrease when no 
legislation existed with regard to it. 
Cattle, sheep, and pigs, as is well known, are the chief victims 
of foot-and-mouth disease, but an opinion has recently prevailed 
that hares and rabbits are also the subjects of the malady. To 
test this belief some experiments were had recourse to at the 
College in April last. In the first instance two rabbits were 
inoculated with the contents of a vesicle which had formed in 
the mouth of a cow, and the detached epidermoid covering of a 
second vesicle, with a quantity of saliva, was also placed in 
their mouths and retained for a time. No effects followed. In 
the second instance, in addition to a similar inoculation of two 
other rabbits, the contents of several vesicles were well rubbed 
into the thin skin between their toes, but also without effect. 
Another contagious disease has also been made the subject of 
experiment, viz., the small-pox of sheep. The facts prove beyond 
all doubt that some Saxony-merino or German sheep, bought by 
a butcher, gave indications of variolous disease prior to being 
slaughtered. A very small piece of skin, on which one or two 
minute vesicles existed, was forwarded to the College by a 
drover, who declined to give full information with regard to it, 
or from whom it had been procured. An examination satisfied me 
that the vesicles were those of variola, nevertheless it was deter- 
mined to have recourse to the crucial test of inoculation. The 
vesicles were too far advanced, besides being remarkably small, 
to yield fluid virus, and consequently the inoculation was made 
with a minute portion of their epidermoid covering. The subject 
was a lamb ; and four punctures were made — two on the inner 
side of each thigh. Two of the punctures took on the fourth 
day. The local effects continued to increase until the seventh 
day, when the animal sunk from the constitutional disorder 
which accompanied the development of the local symptoms. 
