430 WEST OF SCOTLAND VETERINARY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. 
together closely in a more confined shed ; and according to ordinary hygienic 
notions, the latter would have been regarded as the most unhealthy of the 
two places; but in the open and roomy byre the mortality attained fifty per 
cent., whereas in the close one the deaths only amounted to five per cent. 
The only explanation Mr. Anderson could afford of this very singular and 
unexpected circumstance was that warmth appeared essential to recovery; 
and whenever animals are exposed to draughts of cold air, or kept generally 
cool, they had not such a good chance to withstand the disease. Mr. 
Anderson spoke in favour of the old thatched roofs, and thought that the 
newly constructed byres, with tiles on the top, were not so warm, and even 
not so well ventilated as the more rustic buildings which they were once 
accustomed to. 
The Chairman remarked that Mr. Anderson’s observations were very in¬ 
teresting and very just regarding the warmth of byres. 
Professor Gamgee then addressed the meeting, and said that the observa¬ 
tions made by Mr. M'Dougall, coupled with what had been referred to by 
Mr. Anderson, pointed to several subjects of great interest in connection 
with the disease under consideration. In the first place, regarding the 
appearance of the disease in Scotland, Mr. M‘Dougall suggested the means 
whereby it had penetrated a part of the country, whereas, on the authority 
of Mr. Horsburgh and others, there would be no doubt that in Ediuburgh 
the malady was first observed to be imported by cattle brought from Eng¬ 
land to All-Hallow Eair. The disease then gradually spread forwards as 
animals in the ordinary run of trade were transferred to the north, and it 
was a year before any case occurred as far as Inverness. Mr. Gamgee said 
that it was a very important fact that in many districts the disease was still 
perfectly unknown, and he referred to their worthy chairman and other 
experienced practitioners to substantiate, as he knew they could, what he 
then stated. If the circumstances which prevented the penetration of the 
malady to certain districts were investigated, it would be found, without 
exception, that it depended on farmers breeding their own stock, or pur¬ 
chasing from their near neighbours, who not only had never had the disease 
amongst their stock, but avoided public markets and buying in from 
unknown sources. He knew a dairyman in Edinburgh who for a long time 
resisted the temptation of buying cows in the Ediuburgh market. As he 
needed stock, he procured it from his friends in Dumfriesshire; and at 
the periods when the malady was very prevalent in Edinburgh, his animals 
escaped free. About three years ago he was constrained, from want 
of milk to supply his customers, to go to the public market for a cow. 
That cow communicated the disease to his stock, whereby he lost every 
animal, and then returned to his old system. Up to the present day 
there has been no recurrence of the disease. Referring to Mr. Anderson’s 
statement as to the cows in Mr. Harvey’s byre escaping from relapses 
when they had taken the disease once, he wished to observe that there 
were two causes operating in preserving the animals from subsequent 
attacks. The first was, no doubt, having the disease, but it was well 
known that when animals became thoroughly habituated to a byre, 
whatever might be the conditions under which they were kept, they 
resisted the spread of disease far more than when freshly imported. 
He found that when called to places where the disease appeared to 
be spreading, great mischief was sometimes done by removing all the 
animals from the byres or courts they had been occupying, and placing 
them in fresh places or at grass. Such a change usually increased the 
rapidity with which the malady spread. Doubtless it was advisable to 
remove and destroy the diseased ones, and with reference to the re¬ 
maining animals great responsibility must be felt by veterinarians in 
