236 JRepoi-t on the Health of Animals of the Farm in 1877. 
A Select Committee of the House of Commons was appointed 
to take evidence and inquire into the question of cattle-plague 
and importation of live-stock. Their Report and recommenda- 
tions on the subject were laid before Parliament by the end of 
last Session, and legislation on the question is now in progress. 
This visitation of rinderpest proves that even the slaughter 
of plague-stricken animals at the port of landing is not sufficient 
to prevent the spread of the virus ; so powerful is this poison in 
infective properties, that the smallest quantity carried by people 
or things that have been in contact with diseased animals is 
capable of spreading the malady ; and therefore unless the vessel, 
■cargo, and crew are immediately taken charge of and dealt with 
in such a manner as to insure our safety, we may, while im- 
portation of live-stock is allowed under existing regulations, 
at any time have another visitation of this dire scourge. 
Blood-poisoning. — Only two outbreaks of this nature came 
under my observation during the past year. The first of these 
occurred in March on a farm near Chelmsford, where some 
twenty animals were attacked with splenic apoplexy in a few 
days. It was at first rumoured that the disease was cattle- 
plague, which at that time existed in Essex, but the history of 
the outbreak, the symptoms of the disease, its rapid course (some 
animals dying in a few hours), and the post-mortem appearances, 
clearly proved the nature of the disease. The high feeding ot 
the animals, producing a plethoric condition, had no doubt 
much to do with the origin of the disease. A change in the 
mode of feeding arrested the further progress of the malady, 
which would certainly not have been the case had the virus of 
cattle-plague been introduced on the premises. 
In August an outbreak of splenic apoplexy took place among 
a herd of dairy stock on a farm near Yeovil, in Somersetshire. 
The pastures lay along the valley of the Yeo, and one meadow 
where the disease first appeared was opposite the outflow of the 
sewage of Yeovil into the river. The meadows had been more 
or less flooded during the winter and spring, and no doubt this 
excessive moisture, under the influence of the warm weather, 
had produced a rapid vegetation, with a considerable quantity 
of decaying vegetable matter on the surface of the soil. 
Owing to a number of animals being suddenly taken ill, it 
was at first supposed that they were poisoned by drinking the 
sewage-contaminated water of the river. There was, however, 
no evidence that any of them had done so, and, in addition, 
they had access to the river above the sewage outfall. The con- 
dition of the meadow and the herbage were such as have fre- 
quently been described where cases of blood-poisoning have 
occurred, and moreover one animal died from the disease in a 
