372 
INOCULATION FOR THE LUNG PLAGUE, ETC. 
A close parallel to the inoculation of the virus of lung-plague 
is, however, to be found in the inoculation with small-pox matter, 
which was practiced before the discovery of the protective action 
of vaccination, or cow-pox inoculation, as also in the inoculation 
with the matter of sheep-pox, still practiced as a protective meas¬ 
ure on the continent of Europe. Inoculation with small-pox 
matter produces the genuine small-pox, 'and inoculation with 
sheep-pox virus produces the sheep-pox unchanged. The disease 
in each case is milder, if judiciously managed, than the affection 
caught in the usual way, and the losses are reduced to a mini¬ 
mum ; but unprotected men and sheep coming in contact respect¬ 
ively with the inoculated men or sheep, or with their dwellings or 
products, contract the genuine small-pox or sheep-pox, as the case 
may be, and too often with all its native severity. So with inoc¬ 
ulation of the lung-plague virus, the disease is determined in an 
unimportant organ—the tail—and is rarely fatal to the animal; 
but the disease germ is not altered, and if taken in by a suscepti¬ 
ble animal through the air, will determine the fatal affection of 
the lungs. Inoculation with small-pox matter has been long dis¬ 
carded ; inoculation with sheep-pox matter is attended with the 
greatest danger, and was most profitably substituted by the sacri¬ 
fice of the sick, and by disinfection, in the more recent outbreaks 
in England ; and so ought inoculation for lung plague be prohib¬ 
ited, except in certain safely secluded situations, in all countries 
where it is possible to eradicate the plague by other and more 
certain means. 
Comparative Expense of the Mitigation of Lung Plague by 
Inoculation , and of its Extinction by the Sacrifice of the Sick and 
Infected. —This has been already hinted at in these articles, but 
deserves to be yet more particularly noticed. Mr. Watson says 
that with proper appliances five or six men can inoculate 500 to 
600 cattle per day. He quotes the pay of one operator at $50 
per day; but not to be extravagant, we will suppose that this 
should remunerate the five or six men requisite. This would 
make the operation cost 10 cents per head, which cannot be con¬ 
sidered excessive. This, for the 30,000,000 head of cattle in the 
United States, would cost $3,000,000. But this does not provide 
