lxviii 
Monthly Council, April 2, 1800. 
Rabies. — In England, eight 
cases of this disease -were reported, 
all of them in dogs, in the counties 
of Hants, London, Middlesex, 
Notts, Sussex (west), and York 
(West Riding). In Ireland seven 
cases of rabies were reported in 
dogs in the counties of Carlow, 
Cork, Galway, Leitrim, Limerick, 
and Londonderry. 
Sir Johx Thobold added that in 
order to properly start the scheme 
for the registration of Farriers, some 
financial assistance on the part of the 
Society would no doubt be necessary, 
and he gave notice, therefore, that 
at the next meeting of the Council 
he would move for a grant for this 
purpose. 
Importation of American Store Cattle. 
Sir Jacob Wilson then rose and 
said : For some time past there has 
been a movement in Scotland and 
elsewhere to secure the importation 
of store cattle from the United States 
to be landed in this country without 
being subject to slaughter, and no 
doubt many members of the Council, 
like myself, have received letters 
advancing those views. More re- 
cently these opinions have found 
expression in two questions which 
have been put to the President of the 
Board of Agriculture in the House of 
Commons. It seems, therefore, abso- 
lutely necessary that the whole ques- 
tion should be very carefully consi- 
dered. More especially is this the 
case at the present moment, when, in 
conformity with the expressed opinions 
of this Society and the representatives 
of agriculturists all over the kingdom, 
the Government are about to take 
stringent measures for the eradication 
of pleuro-pneumonia. It certainly 
seems a most ill-advised act to do 
anything which might tend to nullify 
the proposed action of the Govern- 
ment by exposing ourselves to the 
risk of introducing disease from 
abroad through a new channel. I 
cannot but think that if this Society 
were to assent to any such proposal, 
or were to abstain from entering a 
most decided protest against it, we 
should justly lay ourselves open to 
the charge of inconsistency by shut- 
ting one door from disease and open- 
ing another. 
It is of course well known, and 
the advocates of the importation of 
American stores have admitted it, 
that the Eastern States of America 
are so tainted with pleuro-pneumonia 
that importation from them cannot 
possibly be contemplated. This view 
is emphasised by the fact that two 
cargoes during the last week have 
been landed from America in which 
pleuro-pneumonia was found to exist. 
When, however, they change their 
ground and ask for the importation 
of cattle from the Western States, 
they are confronted by two difficulties, 
to my mind insuperable, for which 
they have never offered any solution. 
Firstly, they have not indicated any 
means by which the English Govern- 
ment can satisfy itself according to 
the Act as to which portions of the 
United States are free from pleuro- 
pneumonia, nor have they indicated 
in what way any precautions could 
be taken against the introduction of 
pleuro-pneumonia from infected States 
into those which may at the present 
moment be practically healthy. Se- 
condly, they have not, so far as I 
know, indicated any means by which 
animals from the Western States, as- 
suming they are free from disease, can 
be safely brought through the tainted 
districts in the East and shipped from 
the Atlantic ports. Even if animals 
could be safely transported across the 
Continent in " bond," it appears to 
me that it would be exceedingly 
difficult to prevent their communica- 
tion at the port of lading with 
animals from the diseased districts. 
I think it may be taken for granted 
that the difficulties attendant upon 
the importation of store cattle from 
the Western States of America 
through the Atlantic ports are so 
great, that it may, for the present at 
least, be dismissed from the region 
of practical politics. But there is 
another aspect of the question which 
is more specious in appearance, 
though to my mind more dangerous 
in its possible results. It has been 
suggested that animals might be 
brought into this country through 
the Southern States of America, more 
especially from Texas, which are very 
far distant from the regions affected 
with pleuro-pneumonia, and the cattle 
from which might be shipped to ports 
