276 Report on the Health of Animals of the Farm. 
poisonous quality of the milk to the calves, is an important one 
in another respect. The cow had been in my possession nearly 
three years, and twice during that time had been affected with 
foot-and-mouth disease, so that the attack which I have described 
was the third from which she suffered. 
In the former part of this Report mention has been made of 
periodic outbreaks of the disease, and it has been stated that on 
these occasions it assumes a more serious type. In this respect 
foot-and-mouth disease forms no exception to contagious affec- 
tions in general, of which it may be affirmed that the greater the 
number of cases, the greater will be the malignancy of the 
malady. On occasions like these, persons are far more disposed 
to be busy with their remedies than when the disease assumes 
a milder form. If medical treatment be called for ordinarily, it 
certainly should now be more cautiously adopted. On the first 
appearance of the disease in this country, this principle had not 
been fully recognised, and veterinary surgeons as well as agri- 
culturists adopted the opposite course. Animals were dosed 
with medicine early and late, and local remedies were as perse- 
veringly had recourse to. These energetic means of cure proved 
the most effectual ones to kill, and hence, in part, the great 
fatality which attended the outbreak of 1840-1, and also that of 
1845. On the decline of the disease in 1845, a knowledge of 
the true principle of dealing with the malady became diffused. 
The nursing system took the place of the doctoring one ; and 
A'ery soon so little was thought of the disease, that it was a 
common remark among farmers that they preferred their animals 
to " have the epidemic," as it was found that they usually gained 
condition more rapidly afterwards. 
In concluding this Report on foot-and-mouth disease, I may 
observe that the serious outbreak of last year gives evidences of 
being on the decline, and it is much to be hoped that before long 
the country will be again free from foot-and-mouth disease to 
the same extent as at any former period. 
Pleuro-pneumonia. 
The appearance of this disease in England, like ^tlic one I 
have been considering, certainly preceded the alteration of the 
tariff in July, 1842. It was recognised in several of the 
London dairies in the winter of 1841-2 by different veterinary 
surgeons, and, among others, by the late Professor Spooner 
and myself. At a meeting of the Veterinary Medical Associa- 
tion, held February 22nd, 1842, Professor Spooner stated that 
he had that day visited Mr. Rhoade's dairy, and seen several 
cows suffering from the malady in its different stages. He 
