82 
THE VETERINARIAN, JANUARY 1, 1873. 
Ne quid falsi dicere audeat, ne quid veri non audeat.—- ClCERO, 
THE SMITHEIELD CLUB CATTLE SHOW. 
Warned by past experience, the authorities of the 
Smithfield Club made preparations this year to meet an 
emergency which fortunately did not arise. On the occasion 
of the last exhibition a considerable number of cattle affected 
with foot-and-mouth disease were detected by the veterinary 
surgeons, and instead of being put in the places allotted to 
them in the show were detained in an extemporised hospital 
outside the Hall. At the conclusion of the show the animals 
which had been placed in durance, with those which had been 
attacked subsequently, were removed by licence to slaughter 
houses in the metropolis, while the healthy animals were left 
free to move in any direction. 
This year the Smithfield Club Show was held, for the first 
time since the outbreak of cattle plague in 1865, without 
restriction; no licence was required, and no cordon round the 
metropolis interfered with the free passage of animals. The 
animals in the exhibition Avere, as the cattle in a London 
dairy, subject to no Liav so long as they remained in health, 
but under the 57th section of the Contagious Diseases (Ani¬ 
mals) Act were prevented from moving in any direction if 
they became the subjects of an infectious or contagious 
disease. 
The precise position of the Smithfield Club in the matter 
may be thus stated. Animals admitted to the Agricultural 
Hall for the purpose of being exhibited would be under the 
charge of the club. Infectiously diseased animals could not 
be moved out of the hall Avithout contravening the Act; but 
if prevented from entering they might be seized or taken in 
charge by the Local Authority, and detained in some con¬ 
venient place, for as long a time as might be deemed necessary. 
Obviously, therefore, the first care of the Council of the Society 
