578 
EDITORIAL OBSERVATIONS. 
found Dr. Willems quite as strong in his conviction of the 
protective efficacy of inoculation as Mr. Rutherford now 
appears to be. We did not share the Doctor’s sanguine 
views, as will appear from our report which was published in 
the 14th volume of the Journal. 
Whether our knowledge of the nature of pleuro-pneu- 
monia was vague or clear at that time we do not pretend 
to decide; but we can affirm that the conclusions at which 
we then arrived have been supported by the added expe¬ 
rience of another quarter of a century. If inoculation 
confers any protection, which has not yet been proved to 
result, the question is, as the Mark Lane Express states it, 
How long ? 
Conceding all that is asked by the most enthusiastic 
adherents to the system, we should still have to urge that 
there is no meaning in the statement that an outbreak is 
arrested in three weeks, a period which may be expected to 
elapse without the occurrence of a further case of the disease 
after the animals first attacked have been slaughtered. 
It is not pleasant for those who have the interest of the 
veterinary profession at heart to see the agricultural press 
accepting the duty of warning agriculturists against receiving 
with implicit confidence the conclusions arrived at by veteri¬ 
nary authorities; but we should be guilty of an outrage 
on common sense if we attempted to show that the warning 
was in this instance unnecessary or unjust. 
NATURAL COWPON. 
We are exceedingly desirous of obtaining some lymph 
from vesicles on the teats of cows in cases of so-called 
natural cowpox. It should be taken on ivory points, and 
as early as possible after the development of the vesicles. 
Our numerous readers, especially those residing in dairy 
districts, will, we feel sure, kindly make inquiries as to the 
existence of the disease in their respective localities, and 
take the necessary steps to furnish us with a supply of 
lymph. 
