ON AN APHTHOUS AFFECTION AMONG CATTLE. 109 
science, and to report on it, and a veterinary section should be 
established in the Academy of Sciences. 
“ Lastly, the due activity of all subaltern agents should be 
secured by the nomination of inspectors-general, chosen from 
amongst the most distinguished practitioners, who would constitute 
a kind of superior Council or Board, attached to the Ministry of 
the Interior. By means of this Board the Government would be 
able to ascertain, at all times the number of domestic animals, 
their value, and their sanitary state, even in the most remote dis- 
tricts of the country.” 
The above slight sketch of the “ wishes ” of the veterinary 
section of the Congress not only embodies many desirable im- 
provements, but also gives us an insight into the present condition 
of veterinary medicine in France. As with us, it appears that the 
legitimate practitioner is hemmed in on every side by ignorant 
pretenders, who diminish his income, undermine his influence, and 
detract from the social position to which his knowledge fairly en- 
titles him. We trust, however, that the manifestation made by the 
Congress in this direction will not be without a beneficial result, 
and that the veterinary practitioners of France will eventually ob- 
tain that protection which they would long since have enjoyed had 
the interests of the nation been consulted. 
To those who practise veterinary medicine in our own country, 
the declaration of the wishes of the French veterinary surgeons 
must be a matter of great interest. It shews them the path which 
they ought to follow to attain that scientific and social position 
to which they are aspiring. No honours would be too great for 
men who conscientiously accomplished the task so nobly traced by 
the veterinary members of the French Congress. 
Essay on an Aphthous Affection which prevailed among 
Cattle in the Canton of St. Avold (Moselle) in 1841. 
By M. Reynal, V.S . 
[Continued from page 58 .] 
Contagion and Non-Contagion. 
To treat of diseases that some persons consider to be conta- 
gious and others regard as non-contagious, is to attack a subject 
surrounded by difficulties, and one which it is often almost impos- 
sible clearly to explain. However complete and self-evident may 
VOL, XIX. Q 
