JOURNAL 
OF THE 
ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY 
OF ENGLAND. 
I. — Foot-and-Mouth Disease : its History and Teachings, By 
James Howard, Clapham Park, Bedfordshire, 
(1.) Introductiox of the Disease, and subsequent 
Outbreaks. 
In the very first volume of the ' Journal of the Royal Agricul- 
tural Society ' (1840), there appeared a Report on the " Recent 
Epidemic among Cattle," a complaint subsequently termed 
Foot-and-Mouth Disease. In the following year, 1841, the 
' Journal ' contained a further Report from the Veterinary Com- 
mittee of the Society, which it appears had been instructed to 
institute an enquiry among the members of the Society as to 
the origin of the epidemic, its symptoms, and the remedies to 
be applied. 
The information collected by the Committee established the 
fact that the disease was a new one, and had not been known in 
Britain before the summer of 1839. Viewed in the light of 
our present knowledge, many of the opinions broached as to 
the origin of the disease are most amusing, and some of them 
very absurd ; moreover, none of the opinions expressed give 
evidence of any sound knowledge of the habit and course of the 
contagion ; and this remark equally applies to those who were 
looked up to as authorities for guidance. 
As the first volume of the 'Journal' contains an account of 
the introduction of a disease which has entailed such wholesale 
loss and trouble, it appeared to the writer, now that the country 
has been freed from contamination, that it would be appro- 
priate to place upon permanent record in the ' Journal ' an 
account of the experience gained of the formidable malady. 
The old veterinary books afford evidence that the complaint 
was unknown in England before 1839 ; for, in describing the 
VOL. XXII. — S. S. B 
