CONTAGIOUS DISEASES OF ANIMALS. 
♦ 
67 
and observations as we have found to be both practical and suc¬ 
cessful, I have endeavored to collect and submit such suggestions 
at this time as I trust will be kindly received, if not adopted and 
approved, and to point out that which has been based on science 
and confirmed by experience, in contrast with crude theory and 
superstitious empiricism. 
CONTAGIOUS DISEASES OF ANIMALS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
A Paper read at the Chicago Convention by Prof. J. Law, F.R.C.V.S., of 
Cornell University. 
( Continued from page 8.) 
The Lung Plague in America the Lung Plague in the Old World. 
But we are reminded that there are in our midst stockmen 
who deny the existence of the genuine European lung plague 
in America, and who quote anonymous veterinarians in support 
of their assertion. 
I am in no wise disconcerted by this. In company with other 
sanitarians I had to meet the same assertions a quarter of a cen¬ 
tury ago, and the tactics now adopted are the same as were fol¬ 
lowed then. 
Then as now, the agitation was ascribed to the cupidity of 
the agitators. Then, as now, the cattle dealers declared the lung 
plague a myth, and quoted the late Professor Dick to the effect 
that it was simply an imflammation of the lungs caused by im¬ 
pure air. The same Professor denied the inoculability of hydro¬ 
phobia, described rinderpest as a mere impaction of the mani¬ 
folds and wrote an article to prove the non-contagious character 
of epidemic diseases in general. We all know that personal 
interest and the love of notoriety will lead certain men to pro- 
mulge certain dogmas that outrage the intelligence and common 
sense of the age. There are still, I believe, at Cambridge, some 
learned men who assert that the earth is flat and that the sun re¬ 
volves around it once in twenty-four hours. 
A loss of 500,000,000 from lung plague alone has taught 
England that she is not dealing with a myth, but with a terrible 
