IMPORTATION OF AMERICAN CATTLE. 
99 
must have been due to the introduction and diffusion of the 
poison of that disease from an individual affected with it, 
unscientific people have often replied, “ There must have 
been a first case of the malady, and therefore the poison 
must have originated independently of a previous case.” 
No weight has hitherto been attached to this objection, but 
if we correctly apprehend the meaning of the views expressed 
at the meeting of the Pathological Society, we are likely to 
get very far in advance of the popular notion of the origin of 
infective matter. 
So far as diphtheria is concerned, the proposed inquiry 
may perhaps be conducted without endangering the integrity 
of any pathological dogma ; but if scarlatina is to be included 
among the diseases, the possible origin of which is in some¬ 
thing which is not connected with antecedent cases of scar¬ 
latina, it will be impossible to deny the assumption that other 
infectious diseases may occur under conditions which do not 
include the previous existence of the maladies. 
Extracts from British and Foreign Journals. 
IMPORTATION OF AMERICAN CATTLE. 
The Toronto Globe, of December 21 st, 1878, alluding to this 
importation of American cattle, says that all is not yet plain 
sailing for the American exporters of cattle to England. 
There is at present no United States law regulating the im¬ 
portation of cattle with a view to preventing the bringing in 
of disease. If the new British Act had been strictly inter¬ 
preted, the absence of this law would have justified the total 
exclusion of American cattle from the inland markets of 
England. But the British authorities preferred to put a 
liberal construction on the law, as the United States is nearly 
free from the diseases of which the Act takes cognizance. 
The ports were therefore thrown open alike to Canadian and 
American cattle, with the difference against the American that 
a certificate of health is required to accompany each cargo. 
The American authorities have appointed the Collectors of 
lii. 8 
