SANITARY POLICE AND THE CATTLE PLAGUE. 941 
cent., as was the case in i860 and 1863 at Qrenbourg and 
Khersoa. The International Conference has, therefore, 
enunciated the opinion that, in the country where the cattle 
plague is endemic, there is nothing to authorise inoculation 
being prescribed as a measure which has been proved to 
possess real economic advantages. 
As to the application of this so-called preventive method to 
the cattle of Central and Western Europe, the Conference 
has pronounced the opinion that it must be absolutely repu¬ 
diated, because it would be too fertile in disasters. In fact, 
an abstract of the documents relating to the inoculations that 
have been practised in Central and Western Europe during 
120 years gives a mean mortality of 18 to 19 per cent. This 
would cause at the outset a deliberate loss of 1,900,000 head 
of cattle in France alone, taking its bovine population to be 
about 10 millions. 1 But the cattle plague itself, even under 
conditions so favorable to its spread as those under which 
it recently invaded our territory, and with means so insuffi¬ 
cient to oppose the principle of its propagation, did not cause a 
loss of more than 35,000 animals, dead and slaughtered. A 
comparison of these figures will prevent the necessity of any 
long commentary, as they give of themselves the measure of 
the practical value of inoculation applied as a preventive 
measure out of Russia. 
It being acknowledged that Russian cattle are more or less 
certain to contract the plague—either by the fatality of its 
origin, or, more likely, over a great extent of territory, by the 
fatality of contagion, to which it is difficult to oppose an 
efficacious barrier in the actual economic condition of the 
country—it was not possible 2 to permit the free exportation 
of Russian beasts. It was, however, discussed by the Con¬ 
ference whether it is necessary to interdict absolutely this 
exportation, and even this question was answered in the 
affirmative by the delegates of Germany, the frontiers of 
which are closed to Russian cattle. In Germany, this regu¬ 
lation is practicable in consequence of the Custom-house 
service, and the distinctive characters of the Steppe cattle 
from those of the native races of the German provinces which 
are adjacent to the Russian frontier. But if, under such con¬ 
ditions, it is possible to prevent the importation of Russian 
cattle into Germany, this is not the case with the Austro- 
1 The number of cattle of all ages in Trance, according to the statistics of 
I860, was 12,733,188. 
2 These and some other statements should be read with the qualification 
<f in the opiuion of the Conference,” as distinguished from the practice of 
the Governments.— Edit. 
