919 
THE VETERINARIAN, DECEMBER 1, 1869. 
Xe quid falsi dicere audeat, ne quid veri non audeat.—CiCEEO. 
INFECTIOUS DISEASES AND SANITARY REGULATIONS. 
Foot and mouth disease lias extended over a considerable 
part of the kingdom, indeed, only two counties in England 
have escaped, while a large portion of Scotland and Wales 
have suffered, and Ireland is now experiencing the beginning 
of the trouble. 
Pleuropneumonia exists in thirty-four counties of England, 
Scotland, and Wales, and in Ireland it is reported to be ex¬ 
tensively prevalent. Scab in sheep—a very annoying though 
not a fatal disease—exists in several places, and glanders in 
horses is far more common than many people suspect. To 
the etiologist the spread of these maladies at certain periods 
is a fact not easily accounted for; in the course of his in¬ 
vestigations he sometimes discovers centres of infection, 
from which, however, no mal influence appears to radiate, 
until suddenly new conditions arise, and the affection extends 
over the country with wonderful rapidity. Quite unsuc¬ 
cessfully the inquirer seeks to ascertain the nature of these 
new circumstances, nothing of a tangible character rewards 
his search; so far as he can see, all the essential features of 
the disease remain as they always were; but instead of the 
affection advancing only in consequence of direct contact, it 
seems to have acquired an excess of malignancy, and to pro¬ 
ceed in defiance of laws, and regardless of all attempts to 
arrest its progress by sanitary means. 
Numerous causes may combine to assist the spread of a 
contagious disease; there may be a general disregard of ne¬ 
cessary caution in the movement of diseased and infected 
animals, disinfection may be neglected, and animals which 
are suffering from the disease in the incubative stage may, 
in consequence of being sold in fairs or markets, carry the 
infection to distant parts; still there is the fact that all these 
causes are constantly in action when foot and mouth disease 
