796 CAUSES OF SPREAD OF FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE. 
cattle have been allowed to ramble at will from field to field, 
and by that means to convey the infection from one farm to 
another. 
Information of an outbreak has, as a rule, been given ; but 
then the inspectors have done little or nothing to check the 
spread of the disease ; in fact, days, and in some cases weeks, 
have elapsed before the “ order of blue” has put in an 
appearance. Truly, it may be said that the police-inspector, 
on his arrival at a farm, assumes a very knowing look, asks 
how many healthy and how many diseased animals there are, 
and but seldom sees them, for he has the idea that if the 
returns are properly filled up he has performed a great and 
an important duty. Isolation and disinfection are entirely 
disregarded, and these, in my opinion — and I am sure the pro- 
fession will bear me out — are among the chief means by which 
we can hope to check the progress of a disease so highly 
contagious as eczema epizootica. I think that all animals 
sent by sea, even from British territory, if infected, ought to 
be examined on their arrival by a thoroughly competent person, 
before being permitted to travel into a healthy district. 
Deal with Irish cattle as with foreign, and foot and mouth 
disease will soon become almost unknown either in England 
or Scotland. 
On some future occasion I may probably have much more 
to say on this important national subject. 
SOME OF THE CAUSES OF THE SPREAD OF 
FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE AND PLEURO- 
PNEUMONIA. 
By “ Scrutator.” 
The recent outbreak of foot and mouth disease, in many of 
the northern counties in particular, is due, I believe, to infec- 
tion, partly introduced from adjoining counties, but chiefly 
to animals imported direct from Ireland. So far as I know, 
no foreign cattle have lately found their way into my 
county, or into others in the north, with which I am 
familiar. Its spread here is owing chiefly to the movement 
of infected animals by road and rail, and from fair to fair ; 
and to the imperfect isolation or non- separation of sick ani- 
mals on infected premises. It is true that in some stocks its 
appearance could not be assigned to any traceable cause ; but 
