CONTAGIOUS PLEURO-PNEUMONIA IN NEW YORK. 189 
The opposition of quacks and cattle dealers need not be 
mentioned; it was expected, and treated with that contempt 
which at once consigned it to oblivion; but the disaffection 
of the press, the Agricultural Society, and members of the 
profession, could not be so easily passed over in silence. 
A wise policy of public post-mortem examinations, however, 
to which the most noted critics of our policy were invited, 
and the publication of typical cases of contagion in large 
number, have, we believe, completely disarmed our opponents, 
and left us, for the present at least, in comparatively quiet 
possession of the field. 
The same fortunate result has not yet been arrived at in 
other States, and in the majority of those which are infected 
there is still a deplorable contest over the nature and exist¬ 
ence of the disease. As a result nothing is done, the danger 
continues and the malady is spreading; and this state of 
things has, as can readily be seen, a considerable influence 
on the time required for the completion of the work in this 
State, and our safety in the future. 
A word about the stamping-out process. Criticism will 
always follow the appointment of a commission to perform 
such important work, even though the selection is made be¬ 
cause of special qualifications; but I am sorry to see young 
men, ambitious of notoriety, whose experience extends little 
beyond the four corners of a school room, criticising compe¬ 
tent and conscientious men, who have on hand a work greater 
than these would-be critics can appreciate, and who have to 
encounter obstacles which are unknown to such lookers on. 
If our friends would only give the State Commissioners 
credit for possessing intelligence and a natural desire for the 
success of their work, they would not need to be informed 
that there may be good reasons for carrying out the work 
exactly as it is being done. 
It is possible for pleuro-pneumonia to be exterminated in 
other ways than going with a torch in one hand and a pole¬ 
axe in the other, arousing opposition on every hand and 
raising a disturbance entirely out of proportion to the work 
performed. 
This most insidious foe, pleuro-pneumonia, because of its 
long period of incubation,must be met by the guarded quaran¬ 
tine, blocking the avenues of traffic, thoroughly disinfecting 
the centres of contagion and destroying diseased; animals. The 
people must be made acquainted with the laws on the sub¬ 
ject, and in my experience I have found my greatest allies 
among the intelligent herdsmen, who, understanding what 
was required of them, failed not in their duty. 
