MEDIATE CONTAGION IN PLEURO-PNEUMONIA. 
67 
1886. Messrs. Shufeldt & Co. were anxious to refill their sheds 
and made application to the State Live Stock Commissioners for 
permission to do so. Having been called upon, I gave my opinion 
that this would be entirely safe, providing the animals brought in 
were perfectly healthy.” 
Hr. Gadsden appears in this paper to have overlooked another 
condition which he made at the time, viz., that the stables should 
be thoroughly disinfected. It is a very serious omission, and 
one which must have great influence on our opinion as to the 
value of the test. 
“Upon Mr. Shufeldt’s guaranteeing this (the healthfulness of 
the animals), the Commissioners gave the necessary permit and 
on December 18, 1886, 894 fresh healthy cattle were brought in 
and kept under strict quarantine until the time of slaughter, 
which was during June and July, 1887. Each animal was care¬ 
fully inspected and a post-mortem examination made by Dr. 
Casewell State Veterinarian, a man thoroughly familiar with the 
disease, its symptoms and characteristics. He reported that these 
animals were all found free of any taint of pleuro-pneumonia. 
“Although these sheds stood empty for a time and were par¬ 
tially disinfected, the flooring was not removed and the mangers 
and fixtures remained, the only essential precaution insisted upon 
being that none but absolutely healthy cattle should be introduced. 
“ The experience in this case was not a singular one, and 
though I was looked upon as bordering upon rashness in giving 
this opinion, yet from my own experience of many years and the 
testimony of those in whom I have unbounded confidence, I felt 
assured that 1 was right and the result has proved the correctness 
of the opinion.” 
That is Dr. Gadsden’s case as made out in favor of immediate 
contagion alone in pleuro-pneumonia. This so-called test at the 
Shufeldt distillery stables has been widely heralded as conclusive 
on the subject and is therefore worthy of closer investigation. 
As a test of mediate contagion its value* must depend entirely 
upon the character of the disinfection. If this was thorough the 
virus must have been destroyed and there could have been no 
opportunity to test its preservation and ability to produce disease. 
