EDITORIAL OBSERVATIONS. 
223 
necessary to first convince the people for whose benefit it is 
chiefly intended. This done, all is secured. To the task of 
endeavouring to convince the agriculturists of the necessity of 
legislative enactments for ascertaining the amount of loss the 
country sustains from preventible diseases, as well as from 
the deaths of its cattle and sheep, we now apply ourselves, 
but with what success remains to be seen. 
Few, we fear, have ever thought rightly of this subject, 
and have consequently but little idea of the enormous sums 
which are thus annually lost to the country. Every ox, 
sheep, and pig, dying from disease, is just so much food of 
which the population are deprived, and therefore tends to 
raise the price of the poor man’s pound of meat. If agri¬ 
culturists are jealous of official inquiries into the quantities 
of corn which are gathered into their garners, surely they 
would not, nor ought to be of the losses that they sustain 
from the inroads of disease among their flocks and herds. 
Let such returns as these be made, and enormous benefit would 
soon result to themselves as well as to others. The necessity for 
sanitary and legislative regulations would be too apparent for 
any government to refuse their adoption. Contagious diseases 
would be checked in their career, and veterinary science be¬ 
come elevated to its true position and use in arresting the 
progress of destruction. To take but one disease in illustra¬ 
tion, namely , pleuro-pneumonia,—the present pest of our 
herds. No correct opinion can be given even of the number 
of animals which are the subjects of this malady at any one 
time, nor of its location ; but still we are continually hearing 
of its ruinous consequences to individuals On all sides we 
are asked, what can be done to cure the disease? and gloomily 
are we looked upon when we reply that, as a rule, it is in¬ 
curable, but that it can frequently be prevented, and would 
be so, were sanitary measures adopted by the legislature to 
limit the contagion. 
That the spread of this disease is due to its infectious 
nature few will be found to dispute, and this without lessen¬ 
ing any opinion they may entertain of the influence of 
secondary causes in its production. The outbreak of the 
