490 
Report on the Contagious and 
September 3rd, and a telegram was sent to the Veterinary Department of 
the Privy Council reporting the existence of cattle plague in the district. 
Before the disease was officially declared, 8 cattle of the herd had died^ 
11 others were affected, and only 3 were reported free from disease. 
From these facts it was evident that one or more of the 22 animals bought at. 
Hunmanby market on 19th August, must have been infected at or about the 
time of purchase. It consequently became absolutely necessary to ascertain, 
whence the animals which were in the market on that day had come, and in 
what way they had all been disposed of. 
The market at Hunmanby is held chiefly for the sale of fat stock, and I 
was assured that the 26 cattle sold by Mr. Woodcock were the only store 
cattle in the market on August 19th. Accordingly my inquiries had special 
reference to those animals. Before I left Pocklington I was informed that at 
least two of the lot of 22 bought by Mr. Berryman at Hunmanby had been 
in possession of Mr. Taylor, of Sewerby Cottage, Bridlington. It was also- 
stated that these animals had been bought by Mr. Taylor in Hull market^ 
where they had been sent from Lincolnshire. By a very obvious process of 
induction the theory was at once established that cattle plague had been first 
introduced into Lincolnshire through the' agency of the carcases of diseased 
Russian cattle which were stranded on the Lincolnshire coast after having 
been removed from the ' Joseph Soames ' and put in lighters for the purpose of 
being sunk at sea. 
This explanation of the origin of the cattle plague in Yorkshire was unhesi- 
tatingly adopted, and although subsequent inquiry proved it to be entirely 
erroneous, the idea that the infection emanated in some way from the stranded 
carcases is still to some extent entertained. Disregarding the solution of the 
difficulty thus suggested, I proceeded to Bridlington under the conviction that 
cattle plague had existed on Mr. Taylor's farm before the animals which he 
sold to Mr. Woodcock were sent to Hunmanby market, a conviction which, 
was strengthened by the evidence obtained immediately on my arrival at 
Bridlington, where, as I afterwards discovered, cattle plague was then existing 
in several places. 
The primary object of inquiry was the origin and destination of the lot of 
26 store cattle sold by Mr. Woodcock at Hunmanby on August 19th. Soma 
time was occupied in completing the inquiry, but tho result may be written 
in a few words. 
Mr. Woodcock bought 26 cattle of Mr. Wise, near Bridlington, who had 
grazed them during the summer. All these animals, however, and all Mr. 
Wise's stock may be at once exempted from suspicion. 
Mr. Woodcock next sold three of the lot for slaughter in the town. Then, 
in the course of his trade as a dealer, he bought three cattle of Mr. Taylor,, 
which three animals corresponded, as Mr. Woodcock believed, with the three 
which Mr. Taylor had bought in Hull market on August 12th. In fact,, 
however, only two of the three Hull beasts were sold by Mr. Taylor to Mr. 
Woodcock. The other one was sold to Mr. Woodcock's brother, a butcher at 
Bridlington, a few days after it reached Mr. Taylor's premises, and its place 
was supplied by one of Mr. Taylor's own stock. 
The three Hull cattle sold in the market on August 12th to Mr. Taylor 
were traced to the farms from which they had been sent to Hull, and it was. 
ascertained that no disease of any kind had existed on those premises either 
before or after the cattle were sent to Hull market. 
It thus appears that the lot of 26 beasts sold at Hunmanby on August 19th. 
was composed of 23 cattle bought of Mr. Wise, two which Mr. Taylor had 
bought in Hull market on August 12th, and one of Mr. Taylor's own stock. 
Coincidently with the obtainment of this evidence the fact transpired that a- 
disease, which Mr. Taylor suspected to be pleuro-ijneumonia, had existed orv 
