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IX. — Report on the Health of Animals of the Farm in 1877. 
By W. DuGUiD, F.R.C.V.S. 
Great anxiety was caused among the stockowners of this 
country during the earlier months of the past year by the 
importation of cattle affected with Rinderpest, and the spread 
of this plague not only within but beyond the metropolitan area, 
where it first appeared. On the 16th of January, 39 animals 
arrived from Hamburg on board ' The Castor,' and were landed 
at Deptford Foreign Cattle Market. Previous to shipment they 
had been examined on the 12th by the Government Inspector at 
Hamburg, who gave a certificate stating that they were in per- 
fect health, when some of them must have been almost dying of 
the disease. One actually died on the passage, and twenty-seven 
more died before they could be slaughtered. 
The Veterinary Department of the Privy Council were aware 
of the existence of rinderpest in Germany, and had warned the 
whole of the Inspectors at the ports previous to the arrival of 
* The Castor ' with her diseased cargo. 
The Inspector at Deptford at once detected the condition of 
the plague-stricken animals, and every precaution was taken to 
prevent any spread of the virus, by isolation and the free use of 
disinfectants, while the process of slaughter was being carried 
out. No difficulty was experienced in dealing with the car- 
casses of these animals at Deptford, where special facilities for 
the purpose exist. After slaughter they were placed in iron 
■digesters and subjected to the action of steam at a temperature 
of 400°, and there was every reason to believe that, as had been 
the case in 1872, the disease would not extend beyond the con- 
fines of the place where these cattle had been landed. It was 
supposed that the slaughter of plague-stricken animals and the 
•destruction of their carcasses at the port of landing would be suf- 
ficient to prevent the further spread of this bovine pest ; but it 
now appears that no authority exists to prevent the virus being 
carried by the passengers or crew of the vessel in which the 
diseased animals have been carried ; and in the case of ' The 
Castor,' she landed a general cargo at the wharf belonging to 
her owners before any means of disinfecting the vessel could be 
adopted. 
On the 29th of January a disease of a suspicious nature was 
discovered in a dairy at Limehouse, and on the 31st, when 
Professor Brown visited the premises, there was no doubt that 
the animals were affected with cattle-plague. The whole were 
at once destroyed, and an order was issued by the Government 
prohibiting the removal of cattle and sheep from the metropolis. 
