94 
INOCULATION FOll PLEURO-PNEUMONIA . 
“ This disease is very burdensome upon the public treasury, 
because, for those cattle which are slaughtered, the Govern- 
ment grants an indemnity. The more, therefore, we diminish 
the spread of the contagion, the less the treasury will have to 
pay. I think, then, that the State, as well as private indi- 
viduals, will profit from the adoption of my amendment, 
because there will be a smaller number of animals killed. 
“ I have the firmest conviction that the discovery of Dr. 
Willems, when practised with intelligence and upon a large 
scale, will produce many advantageous results, far more 
numerous than the accidents to which it sometimes leads.” 
The honorable M. Lelievre, reporter of the second 
central section, to whom the clause proposed by M. Yisart 
had been sent, in his report laid before the sitting on the 8th, 
pointed out the reasons why the said clause had not been 
introduced into the law : 
“ The Central Section is of opinion that it is not the place 
of the Legislature to pass its opinion on the value of any 
proceeding whatever, nor to sanction an invention whose 
merits it has not in its power to control. The measure pro- 
posed in the amendment is besides purely administrative, 
and cannot conveniently appear in the project now being 
discussed. 
“ Consequently, the Central Section does not think it 
proper to admit the amendment. Nevertheless the Central 
Section calls the attention of the Government to the pro- 
ceeding named by M. Visart, it being of importance that the 
merits of this invention be appreciated.” 
M. Willems thought it right to address the following- 
letter to the Chamber, requesting the intervention of the 
National Representatives, that in Belgium as much at least 
might be done for his invention as had been done by foreign 
governments : 
6( To the President and Members of the Chamber of Representatives 
in Belgium . 
c: Sirs, — Your earnest solicitude for all which concerns 
the interests of agriculture induces me to express the hope 
that you will condescend to favorably receive the commu- 
nication I have the honour to make to you relative to a ques- 
tion which has already been discussed in the Chamber, and 
which has there met with much sympathy and numerous 
supporters, I mean inoculation for pleuro-pneumonia. Before 
coming to the question to which I have alluded, it is important. 
Sirs, to inform you that all the commissions instituted by 
