The Outbreak of Cattle- Plague. 
225 
The disease had lingered in the original areas of infection, 
but the area had not at present been materially extended. All 
the authorities are now quite alive to the danger, and many of 
them have imposed restrictions on the cattle traffic. If absolute 
powers were possessed by the English Government, such as 
exist in Germany, a cordon might have been drawn round the 
centre of infection, and the animals slaughtered immediately 
or kept within very limited bounds. Under such a system 
Hamburg, Berlin, and Breslau have been already declared free 
of cattle-plague, but it still lingers in Saxony ; and Professor 
Midler, the state veterinary surgeon in Berlin, had come to the 
conclusion that the lesson to be derived from this recent out- 
break was, that all cattle-markets in large towns in Germany 
ought to be closed as soon as a declaration of cattle-plague was 
made at any place on the frontier. 
Colonel KlNGSCOTE seconded Mr. Wilson's Amendment. Pro- 
fessor Brown had shown conclusively how difficult it was to 
■eradicate the disease when once it appeared, and it occurred 
to him that if the ' Castor ' had pursued her course, instead of 
lying off Gravesend all night, the disease might have got much 
farther into the country before it was discovered, than it had 
■done under the actual circumstances. He regarded Mr. Bowen 
Jones's Resolution as not going far enough, and, in his 
opinion, all animals ought to be slaughtered at the port of 
embarkation, or at least the import of all live animals should 
be prohibited. 
Mr. BoWLY never felt so much the responsibility of his 
position as a member of the Council. The whole of the agri- 
cultural interest throughout the country were now looking to this 
•Council to take action in reference to this outbreak of cattle- 
plague ; and, fortunately, the recent importation of American 
meat had shown that the prohibition of the importation of live 
stock would not be so great a hardship, either to Continental 
people or to consumers, as we had previously believed. He 
should, therefore, support Mr. Wilson's amendment. 
Earl CATHCART expressed his obligations to Professor Brown 
for the lucid statement which he had made to the Council. His 
lordship did not intend to say anything upon the general 
question, but he would remark on the proposal to import 
nothing but dead meat, which, as Professor Brown had said, 
may also bring disease with it. He had studied the dead-meat 
market practically. The practical difficulty which he saw was 
that the poor were largely dependent upon the supply of offal 
for their animal food. This offal was perishable, and probably 
not worth carrying long distances. The Council should, there- 
fore, look at all the circumstances surrounding the question, 
VOL. XIII. — s. S. Q 
