214 
EDITORIAL. 
The Review will be glad to give publicity to the views of any 
writers who may see fit to communicate their thoughts upon this 
subject though our columns. 
CONTAGIOUS DISEASES AMONGST OUR DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 
Recent outbreaks of contagious pleuro-pneutnonia in various 
parts of some of the eastern States, principally in New York, 
with the official acknowledgment of ignorance of power to dis¬ 
pose of diseased or dead animals, or of legislative regulations, by 
the Sanitary Veterinary Inspector, are conditions which veterina¬ 
rians will seriously regret, and which we hope will make evident 
to the public the great error committed by our State authorities 
when the work carried on by Gen. Patrick’s commission was cut 
short some years ago. 
With pleuro-pneumonia constantly threatening our extensive 
cattle population in the west, with anthrax devastating more or 
less every year some of our cattle ranges, with hog-cholera killing 
our swine, with glanders and farcy breaking out at various times, 
is it surprising that foreign countries should find our preventive 
laws defective and the sanitary condition of our cattle not such 
as to afford reasonable security against foot and mouth disease, 
even when the true extent of its existence in the United States— 
if it exists—is so little defined that it can be denied. 
In view of the existence of such restringent measures as have 
been taken by foreign countries, and the possibility of others 
which would interfere still more with our exports of animals, it 
is evident that the best remedy is the increase of power at the 
hands of the Treasury Cattle Commission, the appointment of 
State Veterinarians all over the country, and the formation of a 
Veterinary Sanitary Bureau; all of which will not only look 
after the sanitary condition of our domestic animals, but also 
prevent by proper legislation the unreasonable opposition that 
may be met with in the performance of professional duties, as 
has recently been the case in some instances, where animals 
affected with contagious diseases were not allowed to be de¬ 
stroyed, notwithstanding the existence of the disease was fully 
established, without the interference of legal official authorities. 
