EDITORIAL OBSERVATIONS. 
921 
wliether foreign or English_, and the establishment of an 
extensive depot for the reception of all animals imported 
from countries where any infectious disease exists, would he 
a great public convenience, and if the projected foreign 
market were now in full action, the great difficulty which is 
felt in isolating the stock from infected countries would 
not exist; but what we contend for is the necessity of regu¬ 
lations at home for the suppression of indigenous infectious 
diseases. 
During the rapid spread of eczema and lung disease in the 
last autumn, all the legislation which was undertaken with 
the especial object of dealing with them has been rendered 
abortive, not intentionally, but as the inevitable result of 
divided responsibility and conflicting opinion. In several 
counties police constables have been appointed inspectors for 
the suppression of maladies of which they can know nothing. 
In other cases no inspectors were appointed at all until the 
disease had advanced beyond all hope of arresting it. In 
Ireland, where pleuropneumonia constantly prevails among 
cattle, no inspection of any kind takes place; and notwith¬ 
standing a comprehensive Order of Council, which forbids 
the removal of diseased or infected animals, it is no one^s 
business to see to its provisions being carried into effect, and 
diseased and infected animals are moved accordingly, just as 
their owners think proper. 
It is quite impossible, with these facts before us, to attempt 
to discuss the question of the success or failure of legislation 
upon infectious diseases of animals. The means which have 
been devised have yet to be fairly tried, and when this has 
been done it will be time to decide what influence they have 
had upon the progress of those maladies against which they 
are directed. 
Instead of acting upon a flxed system as Continental 
authorities do, we amuse ourselves by trying experiments. 
In one county only (Norfolk), so far as we are aware, has 
there been any attempt to establish a rational plan of action 
by dividing the country into districts, and appointing an 
inspector to each. The idea has not yet, however, been 
carried out, and we allude to the matter merely for the pur¬ 
pose of suggesting that sueh a system of division, if applied 
