196 
EDITORIAL OBSERVATIONS. 
somewhere further east., and, being rigorously dealt with, it 
is quickly extirpated, and does not recur, unless as the im¬ 
mediate consequence of the importation of diseased animals, 
or of the poison which emanates from their system. 
Foot-and-mouth disease, however, is an affection common 
to all parts of Europe, always present to some extent in 
certain districts, sometimes extending with rapidity, at others 
remaining as an enzootic, and exciting little or no attention. 
Outbreaks occur in many parts of the country without de- 
tectible cause, no explanation can be offered of the manner 
of conveyance of the virus of the disease, and hence the 
easy solution of the difficulty by reference to spontaneous 
origin. 
To endeavour to prove that infectious maladies cannot be 
spontaneously developed would be a hopeless task, the more 
so as it is impossible to escape from the dilemma which is 
established by the question—How did the first case arise ? 
But the pathologist may be content to know that all the 
positive evidence is in favour of the conclusion that contagious 
diseases do not arise naturally in this country. There are 
always centres of infection, and from them diseases will 
spread with a rapidity proportioned to the favorable or ad¬ 
verse character of the surrounding circumstances; but the 
circumstances do not, according to observation, produce the 
disease when the infecting germs are absent. 
The greatest hardships may be endured by animals in 
transit, to the derangement of their general health and detri¬ 
ment of their condition; but in seasons when foot-and-mouth 
disease does not prevail in the country or district whence the 
animals are sent, they remain free from it. The longest and 
roughest voyage, with the most severe privations, may result 
in death from exhaustion and serious bodily injury, but 
in respect of infectious disease there is a clean bill of 
health. If, however, disease exists in the locality whence 
the animals are removed, the greatest care in transit fails to 
prevent the development of the affection. 
Before the beginning of 1872 the neighbourhood of Ham¬ 
burgh had been for some time comparatively free from foot- 
