EASTERN COUNTIES VETERINARY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. 879 
cooked. Much had been said of the proportion of carbuncular 
disease in man being largely increased by the partaking of such 
meat, but he did not think the ground was tenable. As to the 
question of actual loss to the country by depreciation of the beasts, 
he believed that the average loss would be equivalent to 30s. meat 
value, and of course with many animals the depreciation would be 
much more. But taking the figure at 20s., supposing three-fourths 
of the herds to be attacked, the actual loss to the country would be 
no less than seven millions sterling, and would put on an additional 
penny or twopence a pound on all meat consumed for some time to 
come—a much greater national loss than was sustained from the 
cattle plague. Remarking on the action of the Cheshire magistrates, 
he pointed out that while Norfolk, with its immense herds, lost 
only 6*876 per cent., Cheshire lost something like 52 per cent. 
This was a sufficient illustration of the value of the two systems 
which had been pursued by the respective magistrates. 
He remembered the first two outbreaks of mouth and foot disease 
in this country in 1839, at Mr. Burton’s farm, at Langley, and at 
Mr. Waters’s, Scratby Hall Farm. Under the new Act he thought 
the profession would have a great deal to do in combating this 
disease, now that it had spread in all directions in the country. 
The great difficulty would be to attend to the restrictions of the law, 
and Veterinary Surgeons, if appointed Inspectors, would find this 
out; but they would have to do so in order to prevent the spread¬ 
ing of the disease. He presumed, however they would have very 
little work left to do by the time the local authorities had appointed 
them. As yet he only knew of Norwich and Suffolk having taken 
action under the new Act, and there appeared to be grounds for 
believing that, as in the case of the cattle plague, the local authori¬ 
ties would have got all into working order when the worst had 
passed. He had heard of no precautions in this district under the 
Act, with the exception of those in this city. 
Mr. Smith then briefly alluded to the contagious character— 
though in a less virulent degree than foot and mouth disease—of 
pleuro-pneumonia, and held that the proper course of action with 
all those contagious diseases was to stamp them out where first 
discovered. This had been successfully done in several outbreaks 
of sheep pox, and he believed if that course were adopted there was 
no danger of cattle plague again spreading over the length and 
breadth of the land. He also held the opinion that if the new Act 
was properly put into force pleuro-pneumonia might be reduced in 
the number of its attacks and virulence to such a degree that its 
influence would hardly be perceptible on the meat supply of the 
country. He hoped the veterinary profession would stand on the 
defensive, and would act together for the maintenance of their rights 
as educated men and men of science, for they only successfully 
could grapple with these contagious diseases. 
He doubted not but that in the eastern counties they would meet 
with every assistance from the respective local associations when 
