EDITORIAL OBSERVATIONS. 
227 
following March. Thus it was hoped that by interfering 
with even the little intercommunication which existed in 
those days, between one part of the country and another, a 
limit would be put to the extension of the disease. 
With such facts before us, together with the greatly in- 
creased value of cattle individually , it is not a little remark- 
able that the authorities of the present day should have 
taken so few means of preventing the introduction of this 
destructive pest. Is it in this question, as in many others, 
that official routine and divided responsibility have to be 
satisfied before any real precautions are taken to save to the 
country so much wealth and to the people so much food as 
must necessarily be lost if the disease be introduced? Must 
this matter be first bandied about from the Board of Trade 
to that of the Customs, or from the Board of Health to the 
Treasury ? Let us understand to vffiat particular depart- 
ment it especially belongs, and then let the agricultural com- 
munity unite with others in demanding from that division of 
the State the adoption of prompt and well-considered prophy- 
lactic measures. 
A more vigorous inspection by the veterinary surgeons 
appointed by the Customs is imperatively needed, and may 
do something towards the accomplishment of the desired 
object ; but if experience should show that this malady lies 
dormant for a time in the system, then, as was the case 
with sheep affected with small-pox, cattle may be imported 
bringing the disease with them and still escape the most 
careful scrutiny of the inspectors. 
What we principally require at the outset is an investiga- 
tion into the pathology of the affection and the laws that 
govern its extension, of which it may be admitted that as 
yet in this country we are practically ignorant ; a fact which 
renders such inquiry the more imperative. 
The medical profession appears to be agitating the ques- 
tion chiefly on the principle that diseased meat will find its 
way to the market, and thus prove injurious to man.* We, 
however, believe that such will be the condition of the carcases 
* See extract from the ‘ Lancet,’ p. 212 et seq. 
