Report of the Council, 
330 
Surgeons held last year, have reported that the following gentlemen 
attained the greatest distinction : — 
1. Mr. F. L. Clunes, Newcastle-under-Lyme. 
2. Mr. F. T. G. Hobday, Redhill, Surrey. 
The Society’s Silver Medal has therefore been awarded to Mr. 
Clunes, and the Bronze Medal to Mr. Hobday. 
21. The following resolution in regard to the importation of 
foreign live stock has been unanimously passed by the Council 
and forwarded to the Board of Agriculture : — “ That in the interests 
of the producers and consumers of meat in the United Kingdom, it 
is essential, as a safeguard against the introduction of foreign con- 
tagious diseases with animals, that all cattle, sheep, and swine 
imported into the United Kingdom from foreign countries, which 
are not for the time being ‘ prohibited countries,’ be slaughtered 
at the port of debarkation, except in special cases, when they may 
be admitted under such conditions as the Board of Agriculture may 
from time to time consider necessary.” 
22. The Council have for some time been engaged in considering 
the steps which should be taken to deal with the disease of epizootic 
abortion in cattle, which occasions every year great losses amongst 
stock-owners in this country, and has lately increased to a very seri- 
ous extent. They consider that the time has arrived when definite 
measures should be taken to inquire into the nature and causes of 
the disease, with a view to the application of effectual remedies 
against it. They have accordingly brought this matter under the 
notice of the President of the Board of Agriculture, and have 
urged upon the Government the extreme importance of an exhaustive 
inquiry into the nature and causes of the disease being undertaken 
at the earliest possible moment. 
23. Two outbreaks of foot and mouth disease, in which thirty 
cattle were affected, have occurred in the country this year. One 
of them was discovered on January 1 in a cow-shed in North London. 
The prompt slaughter of the nine cows in the shed proved successful 
in stamping out the disease. The other outbreak took place on 
February 18, at Guestling, near Hastings, where the conditions for 
complete isolation were favourable, and the disease never spread 
beyond the farm buildings in which it first appeared. With regard 
to other contagious diseases of animals, a number of cases of sus- 
pected pleuro-pneumonia were reported since the beginning of the 
year, and the suspected animals slaughtered. In only one of these 
was the condition of the lungs such as to require the slaughter of 
more than one animal. In one case, however, the lung lesions were 
of several months’ standing, and of such a character that as a 
measure of precaution the cattle in contact were slaughtered. 
Anthrax has very materially increased in the first quarter of the 
present year, 119 outbreaks having been reported as compared with 
65 in the corresponding period of last year. Swine fever has also 
increased lately, but not to any great extent. 
