232 
The Outbreak of Cattle-Plague. 
outbreak of cattle-plague in Oxfordshire ; but in reply to a tele- 
gram from the Veterinary Department, it was stated that there 
is no cattle-plague nor any other infectious disease known to 
exist in the locality referred to. 
It may be remarked in reference to the spreading of the disease 
in the metropolis and its vicinity, that in no instance has an 
outbreak been traced to the movement of diseased or infected 
animals. The same thing was also observed in the outbreak in 
the metropolis in 18G5. Occasionally, in answer to inquiries, 
a dairyman would state that he had purchased a cow in the 
metropolitan market a week before the outbreak occurred ; but 
in far the majority of instances the disease must have arisen from 
" mediate contagion," i.e., by the agency of persons or substances 
which had been in contact with diseased animals. In attempt- 
ing to account for the extension of the disease, it is not unfair 
to lay considerable stress upon the utter indifference which 
owners of dairy stock manifest as to the risk which they incur 
by the neglect of the commonest precautions. By Section 59 of 
the Contagious Diseases (Animals) Act, they are empowered to 
forbid the entrance of persons into their premises without per- 
mission, whenever cattle-plague appears in a district of a local 
authority, but no instance is known of such prohibition having 
been enforced in any part of the district where cattle-plague has- 
recently appeared. It has been publicly stated that men who 
have been in contact with diseased animals are allowed to leave 
premises without previous disinfection ; and it is known that 
milk-cans, and other apparatus used about cattle, are moved 
from premises where the disease existed without previous dis- 
infection. Vehicles which are employed for the purpose of 
conveying fodder or manure are quite likely to carry the 
infection of cattle-plague, but the owners of stock generally fail 
to recognise these sources of danger. 
A very wide-spread belief appears to exist in that most un- 
fortunate of all delusions, the atmospheric theory of contagion ; 
and so long as stock-owners entertain the impression that the 
disease is " brought by the air," it is quite hopeless to expect 
that they will avail themselves of the means which they have 
at command for the protection of their animals. There cannot 
be a question that the contagion of cattle-plague is of so virulent 
a character that precautions which, in reference to other con- 
tagious diseases, might fairly be deemed superfluous, are in- 
dispensably necessary to prevent its distribution. Too much 
attention cannot be paid to the adoption of means for the 
early detection of the disease, and the immediate application 
of all precautionary measures. It has been remarked during 
the present outbreak that some of the characteristic symptoms, 
