EDITORIAL. 
21 
they were neither made but were contradicted by veterinarians. 
We remain, however, in the presence of two outbreaks, one 
in Portland, which has been at a too late hour acknowledged by 
the proper authorities whose duty it was to prevent the intro¬ 
duction, and the second in Kansas, where a veterinarian, well- 
known to us, has made a positive diagnosis of the foot and mouth 
diseaes, and presented his reasons for it to the profession in the 
report which we publish to-day. His position is, however, 
denied by Dr. Salmon, Veterinarian of the Agriculture Depart¬ 
ment, who states that after thorough investigation he has con¬ 
cluded that it is not the genuine foot and mouth disease, and 
that there is no danger of it spreading, (a conclusion which seems 
to be well sustained by the various non-official statements that we 
have received at a late hour.) 
In the presence of such widely differing statements from two 
veterinarians well known to the community, the profession will 
have to wait to decide as to where the correct diagnosis exists— 
for the official report of Dr. Salmon or for the missing link 
which will explain the appearance of the disease in such a re¬ 
mote part of the country. 
So long as it existed in Maine, so long as it was allowed not 
only to enter but to spread, there is a possibility that it might 
have been allowed to extend to Kansas, and the affirmative evi¬ 
dence that the disease can be traced to Portland will certainly 
prove too important to Dr. Holcombe for him not to exert his 
greatest power of investigation and prove himself right before 
the profession. It is much to be regretted that Dr. Salmon has 
not been able to offer us the opportunity to publish his report, 
with that of Dr. Holcombe ; but as yet in this country profes 
sional information has to take second place before political orders; 
we will have to postpone to a later day the result of his investi- 
cations. 
Leaving aside, however, the influence these outbreaks may 
have upon our exporting trade, and while we regret that it is no 
more possible for us to keep the position assumed by the report 
of the Treasury Cattle Commission in September last, correct as 
we believe it to have been, there is one fact that, as lovers of our 
