346 
EDITORIAL OBSERVATIONS. 
that the disease in question arises in Western countries from 
climacteric causes, or want of care, M. Bouley cites the fol- 
lowing striking fact : — The 4000 bullocks and 220,000 sheep 
enclosed in Paris during the siege were placed in peculiarly 
unfavorable circumstances ; all suffered, but not a single 
animal was attacked by the epidemic during the whole period 
of the siege. When the armistice opened the circle around 
the city, cattle were purchased from Prussian sources, and 
the disease immediately made its appearance, the stock was 
affected, and the animals died at the rate of two hundred per 
day. In support of this view he cited also the case of England 
and the opinions there entertained upon the subject. 
“ On another point of great importance M. Bouley dwelt 
with emphasis. He declared the flesh of animals attacked 
by the disease was perfectly innocuous, that there was not 
the slightest inconvenience in the use of such meat as food, 
&c. He protested against the practice which prevailed in 
the department of the Nord, where even animals suspected 
of being attacked were killed and buried. Our supply of 
butchers 5 meat, said M. Bouley, is too precarious to allow of 
such waste, and, besides, the public health may suffer from 
the accumulation of so many carcases. He protested in like 
manner against what had been done in Brittany, where eight 
hundred diseased animals a day had been placed on board old 
ships and. sunk by cannon shot in the Atlantic. 
“ Experiments are being made under M. Bouley’s direction 
in the treatment of the disease with phenic acid, and Dr. 
Declat is pursuing other experiments with an analogous sub- 
stance. M. Bouley expresses great hopes of the success of 
these modes of treatment, the results of which will be re- 
puted shortly. M. Dumas, the perpetual secretary of the 
Academy, communicated another mode which had been 
suggested, namely, to surround the animal with an anti- 
putrid atmosphere by means of a considerable dose of naptha- 
line in the litter, to wash it with water containing phenic 
acid, and to administer daily from ten to twelve litres of 
water, containing a one thousandth part of phenic acid, this 
by way of preventive. In cases of positively diseased 
animals a like course is recommended, but with an increase 
in the quantity of the acid to 25 grammes (nearly an ounce) 
a day. In case the remedy should fail to save the animal, 
the flesh, it was observed, would be impregnated with the 
antiseptic, and cease to be an element for propagating the 
disease. 55 
With a vivid recollection of the consequences of preserving 
