506 CONTAGIOUS DISEASES (ANIMALS) ACT. 
What might be the effect of drinking such water as I have 
described I cannot say, for no one would touch it if other 
water were to be obtained. Probably its continued use 
might be productive of injurious effects. 
Engineers should bear in mind this effect of rain water upon 
zinc and upon the so-called galvanized iron.— Guy’s Reports, 
vol. xvii. 
THE COUNTY OF MIDDLESEX AND THE CONTAGIOUS 
DISEASES (ANIMALS) ACT. 
The local authorities of Middlesex have always shown 
exemplary vigilance in carrying into effect the various pro¬ 
visions of the Act and order relating to contagious and in¬ 
fectious diseases of animals. In the time of the cattle plague 
the energetic action which was taken had most satisfactory 
results; and, now that cattle plague no longer exists, the 
same authorities continue to apply all the restrictive means at 
their command for the suppression of the less serious hut 
sufficiently annoying maladies, pleuro-pneumonia, foot-and- 
mouth disease, and sheep scab, and, not least, glanders 
among horses. The report of the Executive Committee to 
the Court of Quarter Sessions is now before us, and we do 
not hesitate to say that the scheme which the committee have 
hitherto put in force, and which they propose to continue, is 
most complete in details, as it has proved effective in practice. 
The systematic character of the arrangements throughout 
contrast very satisfactorily with the intermittent efforts which 
have been made by the local authorities over the greater part 
of the country to arrest the progress of infectious diseases of 
stock. Most prominently in the report stands the scheme of 
division into districts. The county of Middlesex, for the 
purposes of the Act, is arranged in seven districts, each one 
comprehending several parishes; over each district a veteri¬ 
nary inspector, who is a qualified veterinary surgeon, is 
appointed. The rates of remuneration are calculated accord¬ 
ing to distance, and travelling expenses are limited to three¬ 
pence per mile each way. Inspectors are required to make 
returns to the committee from time to time, and the present 
report contains tabulated statements of the number of cases 
of infectious disease which have come under the observation 
of each inspector from the passing of the Act to March 25th 
of the present year. At page 11 of the report we read:— 
“ Your committee have thought it desirable that Southhall 
