100 
EDITORIAL. 
rise to the leading post and make a political job out of what once 
was, and always ought to be, considered a strictly professional 
labor. 
The result is a serious one from various points of view. First, 
and of first importance as we consider it, and most interesting to 
us, is the professional, since a failure in the work, through incom¬ 
petency, will be sure to lower the estimation of the veterinary 
profession in the popular mind for years to come. Secondly, 
from the point of view of agricultural losses and prospective dan¬ 
gers. If pleuro-pneumonia cannot be stamped out within the lim¬ 
ited bounds that it occupies at the present time, what will be 
the next measure to adopt against its ravages ? And it is then 
that the subject of preventive inoculations will come forward, and 
that its advocates and its opposers will have an opportunity to dis¬ 
cuss the subject some more. 
On this account anything relating to that operation must al¬ 
ways be of interest. The letter of the Chief Inspector of Stock 
of Australia, throws a good deal of light on the subject, and de¬ 
serves our close attention and a wide promulgation. With the 
Breederd Gazette , from which we copy it, we will say again, as 
we have always said : Where the disease has once gained an ex¬ 
tended foothold, inoculation may be advisable, but when it is 
confined within narrow limits, as has been the case thus far in 
this country, a war of extermination is the only sure expedient for 
conquering it. 
The letter reads as follows : 
To the Gazette: 
It will interest many of your readers to know that the Government of this 
colony, taking advantage of the presence in Australia of Dr. Germont and Mr. 
Loir—two representatives of M. Pasteur—concluded an arrangement with these 
scientists—with M. Pasteur’s consent—to conduct a series of experiments here 
with a view to discovering means of cultivating or preserving the virus of bovine 
pleuro-pneumonia for inoculation purposes. 
It may be explained that twenty-seven years’ experience of the practice has 
fully convinced Australian cattle-owners of the efficacy of inoculation as a pro¬ 
phylactic ; but hitherto cattle-owners have been unable to procure virus for the 
purpose until the disease had actually penetrated their herds, or until the conter¬ 
minous herds had become infected. It was to overcome this difficulty that the 
Government, urged by the cattle-owners, completed arrangements with the 
French scientists to conduct the experiments referred to. How thoroughly they 
