EDITORIAL OBSERVATIONS. 
479 
a want of it has been attended with immense losses to many- 
foreign countries. As an example of this, let us take the 
case of Holstein. 
Shortly after the appearance of pleuro-pneumonia in 
1842-3 in the neighbourhood of Altona, the department 
veterinary surgeon received instructions from the Danish 
government to watch the progress of the disease. No active 
measures, calling for any comment, were, however, had 
recourse to until 1845, when, the disease continuing, and 
being unabated in its severity, the government sent Professor 
Witt, of Copenhagen, to investigate its nature and conse- 
quences. Professor Witt, with the department veterinary 
surgeon, and a surgeon and veterinary surgeon of the ad- 
joining town and territory of Hamburg, formed a commission 
of inquiry. This commission ended its labours by recom- 
mending complete sequestration of the places where the 
disease existed, the immediate slaughter of all infected 
animals, and the ultimate killing of the whole herd upon its 
being found that fresh cases occurred. The diseased animals 
were to be buried with their skins on, but these cut in such 
a manner as to prevent their being surreptitiously disposed 
of, and their bodies w r ere to be sprinkled over with chlorinated 
lime. The indemnity to the proprietor was to consist of 
the government paying two thirds of the value of the 
diseased animals, and the full value of the healthy ones. 
Various other recommendations were made to secure the 
carrying into practice these extreme measures. Thus a pro- 
prietor was to be subjected to a fine for not giving notice of 
his cattle being affected ; and he was also not to be allowed 
to sell any animals off his farm until the department veteri- 
nary surgeon saw' fit to give him a certificate of their being 
in a state of health. 
The government at once adopted these measures, and 
they have been in full force from that time to the present, 
whenever occasion has called for their administration. The 
effect is said to be, that pleuro-pneumonia has more than 
once totally disappeared, and its subsequent outbreak is 
attempted to be traced to a fresh introduction of diseased 
