CAUSES OF SPREAD OF FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE. 79 7 
then, in most of the cases in which such outbreaks occurred, 
the pastures or premises were situated near a line of railway 
or a highway directly connecting towns where cattle-markets 
or fairs are held — just as was seen with regard to outbreaks 
of the rinderpest. 
My first case in the present outbreak occurred in a cow 
which was pastured in a field immediately adjoining the en- 
trance to the railway company’s cattle-yard, and which four 
times a day had to travel along the road by which all cattle 
going to or from the railway station had to pass. 
Some of the cattle-dealers are very reckless with regard to 
the movement of animals infected with the disease, and care 
little or nothing about consequences so long as they escape 
detection. The dairy-farmers generally give early intimation 
to the police of the appearance of the disease in their stocks ; 
but some of the graziers delay doing so until they shall have 
got a few of their <f ripe ’’beasts off to the market or slaughter- 
house, as they find the police restrictions, when in force, to 
interfere with their prices. 
The police-inspector, as a rule, knows very little of the 
disease. He goes to a farm when the occupier sends him 
information of an outbreak ; notes as “ attacked ” just so 
many of the animals as the farmer thinks fit to tell him of, 
or he imagines, rightly or wrongly, to be affected — and I have 
known him to mistake the natural flow of saliva from the 
mouth, or a discharge of mucus from the nostrils, or lameness 
from foul in the foot, or sprained limb, for symptoms of foot 
and mouth disease. He then orders the farmer to keep his 
cattle off the highways, and places, perhaps, one small jar of 
chlorine-producing chemicals within the cattle-sheds to dis- 
infect them ! He visits the farm about once a week, writes 
down at each visit as “ attacked,” “ dead,” “ recovered,” the 
numbers the farmer pleases to tell him ; and often is not a 
little bewildered as to what he ought to report if the farmer 
or his deputy be not at home to give him information of the 
real state of affairs. At length the farmer, thinking, perhaps, 
that he has been under “ police government ” quite long 
enough, tells the policeman on his next visit that his cattle, 
pigs, or sheep, are all recovered ; learning this the inspector pro- 
ceeds to look at the animals, and, if his uneducated eye fails 
to detect any discharge of saliva, lameness, or other suspicious 
symptoms, he reports all as “ recovered ;” while at the same 
time, perhaps, in some of the animals the disease is just com- 
mencing, and in others the gums and tongue are as raw as 
beef. Or it may be that all the animals are perfectly re- 
covered, but the policeman has formed a contrary opinion, 
xliv. 55 
