THE EDINBURGH VETERINARY COLLEGE. 
453 
copy of a letter from her Majesty’s Minister at Brussels, which my 
Lords have received from the Foreign Office, stating that the re- 
ports which had been circulated of the ‘ German Epizootic’ having 
spread into Belgium are entirely without foundation. 
“I am, Sir, 
“Your obedient servant, 
(Signed) “J. MACGREGOR. 
“To Sir Chas. Gordon.” 
From her Majesty's Minister at Brussels. 
“Brussels, March 11th, 1845. 
“ My Lord, — Reports having obtained circulation respecting 
the appearance here of some cases of the 1 epizootic’ that has been 
raging in Germany, I thought it right to wait yesterday upon the 
Minister of the Interior, and beg him to acquaint me exactly what 
degree of confidence was to be attached to these rumours. 
“ M. Nothomb assured me, in the most positive manner, that 
the disease, of which some traces had been observed in Belgium, 
especially in the district of Herve, was simply that of which some 
cases occur annually at this season ; and added, that he had every 
reason for believing that no one case of the real ‘ epizootic’ had yet 
occurred on this side of the Rhine. These assurances, he said, he 
was quite ready to give in an official letter, if such should be my 
wish. An arrete, prescribing the sanitary precautions to be adopted 
in the event of the nearer approach of the ‘ German epizootic,’ is 
now in preparation, and will appear in the course of a few days. 
“ No time shall be lost in bringing these resolutions to the 
knowledge of her Majesty’s government. 
“ I have the honour to be, &c. &c. 
(Signed) “ J. H. SEYMOUR. 
“To the Earl of Aberdeen, &c. &c.” 
“ Notwithstanding all these precautions, the disease has mani- 
fested itself in several parts of Scotland ; and though the cases in 
which it has appeared indicate more a sporadic than an epidemic 
tendency, it nevertheless calls for the most energetic means being 
adopted by owners of stock to guard against its appearance near 
them. As the disease is of a severe nature, and rapidly fatal in its 
consequences, the farmer cannot be too strongly cautioned to take 
every proper step for the efficient treatment of the disease, and 
the careful isolation of his healthy stock whenever it occurs on his 
premises. 
VOL. XVIII. 3 Q 
