REPORT ON THE CATTLE PLAGUE. 
93 
few years previously had prevailed in several continental 
states,, suddenly broke out here, and swept off many of our 
cattle. No account sufficiently explicit upon the nature 
and progress of the disease has been handed down to us, 
so that it is difficult to speak with certainty of its true 
characters, and much more either of its duration or the 
amount of loss which the country sustained. It appears, 
however, that the malady possessed many of the features of 
Eczema epizootica , now common among us, and it ma}' possi- 
bly have been identical with this disease. The infection 
seems to have been communicated by the saliva, as it is said 
that “when this is dropped on the grass, and sound animals 
are immediately placed on the same pasture, they contract 
the disorder; and in some bullocks the tongue was inflamed 
and covered with many red blisters.” 
This malady was succeeded in 1744 by one of far greater 
importance, because attended with a far greater fatality. 
The disease in question early attracted the attention of the 
Government, who promptly adopted vigorous means of 
arresting its progress. It is asserted that the malady first 
appeared in the neighbourhood of London, whence it ex- 
tended over the length and breadth of the land, destroying 
hundreds of thousands of cattle, and continuing its devasta- 
ting effects with almost unmitigated severity down to 
1754-5. Its introduction here has been differently accounted 
for; but it is pretty generally attributed to the importation 
of two calves from Holland by a farmer residing at Poplar, 
with a view of improving his breed, and in whose systems 
the disease was incubated. 
Dr. Layard, in his Essay on the disease, says, however, 
that an opinion prevailed that it was brought over by an 
English tanner, who had purchased “ a parcel of distempered 
hides in Zealand very cheap, because they were forbidden to 
be sold there, and should have been buried.” It seems, 
therefore, to have been confidently believed at the time that 
the disease was an imported one — a circun^tance of much 
practical value, now that we are receiving several hundreds 
of cattle week by week from the Continent ;' although, as 
this Report will hereafter show, our own investigations have 
proved that no fear need be entertained at present of “ the 
great cattle murrain” visiting our shores. Notwithstanding 
the deep and painful interest which this disease excited, and 
the efforts made by the Govenment of the day to stay its 
ravages, no correct estimate can be formed of the numbers 
of cattle which were lost to the country from its duration 
and extension ; but it was ascertained by one of the Com- 
xxxi. 13 
