186 CONTAGIOUS PLEURO-PNEUMONIA IN NEW YORK. 
condition of cows kept in swill stables, then located be¬ 
tween 15th and 16 th Streets, near North River, and also 
those in Brooklyn, influencing popular opinion to such an 
extent that many of these stables were abolished. His apt 
illustrations and the humour of his caricatures obtained for 
the vendors of milk from these stables the sobriquet of 
“ stump tails,” from the fact that most of the cows had lost 
a portion of their tails. 
Later, Henry Bergh, President of the American Society 
for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, has since the 
organisation of his society waged war against the inhuman 
practices of cow owners. These gentlemen made public the 
condition in which cows were kept, and though powerless 
to remedy the evil, if indeed, they recognised the true root, 
viz. pleuro-pneumonia, did much to relieve the condition 
of the bovine family, and deserve the lasting gratitude of 
residents of New York and Brooklyn. 
Many eminent pathologists wrote to our legislators at 
Albany and Washington without being able to enlist any 
action in the matter. 
In the year 1868, Prof. John Gamgee, under an appoint¬ 
ment of the General Government, made an official examina¬ 
tion in the United States, and in the fall of 1869 made an 
exhaustive report to the Commissioner of Agriculture at 
Washington, in regard to the history of this disease in 
European countries and of its existence in Long Island, 
New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, District of Columbia 
and Virginia, advising strong measures for its extirpation, 
and in the same report prophesying w T hat the result would 
be unless the Government took active steps to stamp it 
out. 
Prof. Gamgee’s report was printed and placed in the 
hands of our legislators at Washington, still nothing was 
done by the Government. 
The disease continued to make havoc in this country till, 
coming to the knowledge of the English authorities through 
an article published in the New York ‘ Tribune * for Nov. 
27th,- 1878, from the pen of Prof. Law, and the subsequent 
discovery of diseased American cattle on board the Ontario, 
Prof. McEachran, of Montreal, was directed to investigate 
and report to Canada. You all, gentlemen, know the result 
of that report: American cattle were refused, not only by 
England but by other European countries. This is a matter 
of history. 
The United States had a rude awakening—we could see 
Europe supplied with cattle from Canada, thereby diverting 
