212 
HIGHLAND AND AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
a certificate shall be given at the time of entry that she has been 
served, and the prize shall be withheld till a certificate be produced 
of her having produced a foal/—This report was adopted/ 5 
HIGHLAND AND AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
The monthly meeting of the directors of this Society was held 
in their chambers, 3 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh, on Wednes¬ 
day, Eebruary 7th. Among other matters, attention was called 
to the “ Contagious Diseases (Animals) Act/ 5 and “ letters were 
read from Sir William Eorbes of Craigievar, Bart., and Mr. Newell 
Burnett, sending, by desire of the Local Authority of the county 
of Aberdeen, a report by their inspector, and expressing a hope 
that the society will co-operate with them in representing to the 
Privy Council the necessity of all local authorities throughout the 
country taking proper precautions to prevent the spread of 
disease, and that it is indispensable that more efficient provision 
should be made for the inspection of animals in Ireland. The 
following excerpts from the report were read :— f Since my report 
to you on 1st September last, I regret to say that there has been 
a continued increase of contagious diseases among animals within 
the county. Since that date there have been sixteen outbreaks of 
pleuro-pneumonia, and 597 of foot-and-mouth disease. In 
reviewing the state of disease throughout the county during the 
year 1871, I find that there have been 866 centres of foot-and- 
mouth disease, while there were only 150 during the previous 
year. There have been twenty-five outbreaks of epizootic pleuro¬ 
pneumonia, seven of which are, however, reoccurrences of the 
disease at places preciously reported on. Only four outbreaks 
occurred during the year 1870 ; 223 animals have been slaughtered 
during the year in accordance with the regulations of the Local 
Authority. It is disappointing to find that, notwithstanding the 
restrictive measures adopted by the Local Authority, contagious 
diseases have prevailed so extensively during the past year, but 
this state of matters is in a great measure due to the increasing 
practice of importing stock from the south, and consequent 
importation of disease. During the past year 10,000 animals, 
consisting mainly of English and Irish stock, with a small pro¬ 
portion of foreign cattle, have been brought to Aberdeen either 
by rail or steamboat, and have been examined by me. Of this 
