830 SCOTTISH METROPOLITAN VETERINARY MEDICAL SOCIETY. 
Kingdom at a certain age shall be inoculated under the careful super¬ 
vision of paid officials. I would give all credit to the Act of 1878 
for the great good it has done in checking the spread of this disease. By 
its rigorous enforcement in the counties it has had a very beneficial 
effect, but is it necessary to keep in motion this cumbrous piece of 
machinery ? Is it necessary to tax the already overburdened ratepayers 
to carry it into operation, when we have at hand such a cheap and simple 
process as inoculation ? Inoculation will give confidence to the breeders 
and feeders of cattle to multiply their stock, and it will open wide our 
ports and swell our markets with abundance of cheap food to such an 
extent that even the poorest may have a plentiful supply.” 
The Chairman said he agreed with Mr. Reid that the system of inocu¬ 
lation would never be the success it deserved to be till it reached the 
ears of our legislators, and through them all stock be inoculated when 
calves, and all imported stock be inoculated (if not meant for slaughter) 
at the port of debarkation. He had no doubt there were steps in the 
disease when inoculation was not only preventive but curative. As to 
the insufficiency of the period of quarantine provided by the Act of 1878, 
he agreed with Mr. Reid, and questioned whether four, or even six, 
months would be sufficient. 
In the course of the further discussion, Professor Walley said there 
was one thing that puzzled him in regard to the practice of inoculation. 
In London and the neighbourhood inoculation had been practised very 
largely, yet for one man in favour of it you would get another against 
it; and pleuro-pneumonia had not been stamped out of those countries, 
such as Holland, where inoculation was compulsory. 
The Chairman , in reply, said he could only judge from the results of 
his own practice; but he offered to go to London at his own expense 
and arrest any outbreak of pleuro-pneumonia, provided a Commission 
was appointed to watch the result. The operation and treatment in 
London were not the same as that practised here. In regard to the 
arrestive effects of inoculation there could be no question, and the pro¬ 
fession should be glad that the slur had been removed from it of not being 
able to do anything for this disease. 
Mr. Storey , East-Linton, said that in the district for which he was in¬ 
spector pleuro-pneumonia had almost died out, though inoculation had 
not been generally practised. He attributed that result to the manner 
in which the Act of 1878 had been enforced. 
Again replying to Professor Walley, the Chairman said he believed the 
effects of inoculation would last throughout the animal’s lifetime. 
The general feeling of the meeting at the close of the discussion 
seemed to be that both the Act of 1878 and inoculation were required, 
and that, with both properly applied in conjunction, the disease could be 
easily overcome. 
Professor Walley exhibited some interesting pathological specimens 
and narrated their history. He also read the following papers : 
SPECIAL FORMS OF INTESTINAL TORSION AND DIS¬ 
PLACEMENT OF THE COLON IN THE HORSE, 
PARTICULARLY IN REFERENCE TO THE CAUSE OF 
DEATH AND THE USE OF THE TROCAR AND CANULA 
IN TYMPANY. 
In introducing this subject to your notice I do not intend to make 
any lengthened remarks, but merely to supplement those I made in the 
