448 INOCULATION FOR PLEURO-PNEUMONIA IN CATTLE. 
factorily set at rest. It appears, however, that such is far from 
being the case, and the subject seems destined, for a time at 
least, to hold its place among the questiones vexata . Men' of 
equally great repute in the science of medicine are to be 
found ranked on either side, as its advocates or its oppo- 
nents. 
Reserving for the present the opinions which have been 
formed from our own experience in inoculation, we shall pro- 
ceed to give the conclusions of other investigators. This 
becomes the more necessary, as in many particulars a want 
of agreement w T ould seem to exist even in the results themselves 
of the operation, and hence probably the cause of the differ- 
ences of opinion to which we have alluded. 
First, in order of time, come two Reports from the Dutch 
Commission, dated respectively September 21 st and December 
28th, 1852.* The details of the experiments are very accu- 
rately given, and occupy the greater part of both reports. It 
is, however, not necessary to quote them here, as they differ 
not essentially from those to be afterwards mentioned. Cf The 
result of the trial,” says the Committee, “ may be thus 
summed up — 
“ 1st. Although inoculation in pulmonary disease is not, in every 
respect a harmless operation, and may produce considerable ulceration, 
and even death, the symptoms, as a rule, are confined to the part where 
it is applied. 
“ 2d. To obviate, as much as possible, unfavorable consequences, it 
is necessary to use some precaution, as well in regard to the choice of 
matter as to the time of applying it. The season of the year — the state 
of the weather — the healthy condition of the animal — may exercise con- 
siderable influence. The autumn appears, for several reasons, to be the 
most fitting time. 
“ 3d. Where more violent action and dangerous symptoms in remoter 
organs likewise appear, they may also be connected, excepting in exterior 
circumstances, with the individual condition of the animal, for which 
reason they cannot always be avoided. 
“ 4th. When the violent action occurs and extends to the more vital 
parts, affecting the whole system, its progress can as little be prevented 
and checked as the disease in general can be cured. 
“ 5th. In those cases where the progress has been serious and even 
terminated in death, morbid degeneration has never been observed in 
the pectoral cavity or in the lungs, but as yet only in the cavity of the 
belly. 
“6th. Inoculation, when its effects appear as a local affection, has 
never exercised any unfavorable influence on the general state of 
health or on the milk. In those cases only where, on account of previous 
violent action, fretting ulcerations appear, the animals continue to pine 
for a while. 
“ 7th. On the procreative impulse it does not exercise any decided 
influence, being proportionally more prevalent with inoculated than with 
* See Papers respecting Pleuro-pneumonia in Cattle, presented to the House 
of Lords by command of Her Majesty, April 4, 1853. 
