INOCULATION FOR THE LUNG PLAGUE, ETC. 
373 
for the sacrifice of sick cattle to furnish the virus to be inocula¬ 
ted, for the disinfection of buildings, etc., where the inoculated 
cattle have been kept, for the re-inoculation of those that fail to 
take, for the inoculation of new-born calves, for the erection of 
pens in which to inoculate large and wild herds, and for numerous 
other attendant expenses. These cannot be set down at less than 
$3,000, 000 more. But Mr. Watson’s estimate is made for large 
herds of 1,000 to 10,000, and must be greatly increased for our 
small herds of 5 to 50 in the Eastern States. $6,000,000 would 
therefore be far under the mark for a single general inoculation 
of our American cattle. But as we have already seen, no past 
experience with inoculation in any part of the world holds out the 
hope that this would rid the country of the contagion. The 
practice would therefore have to be kept up with each succeeding 
generation of cattle if they were to be rendered proof against the 
contagion, and thus a permanent tax of a grievous and altogether 
unnecessary kind would be imposed on the country. 
This will be met by the statement that it will not be necessary 
to inoculate all the stock of the country, and that if we restrict 
our estimate to the cattle of the infected districts it will not be so 
excessive. This is conceded ; but it must be conceded also by the 
party on the opposite side, that with the maintenance of the 
practice of inoculation there would be a permanent preservation 
of the contagion, that at the margins of the inoculated districts 
there would be the ever-present opportunity for a wider extension 
of the disease, and that under this method, as at present, there 
would be the constant danger of a sudden conveyance of the dis¬ 
ease to the great West in the body of an infected animal, and of 
the pollution of the source of the cattle traffic, so that we must, 
never forget the probability that we may soon have to adopt just 
such a general inoculation, not to stamp out the contagion, but 
merely to lessen the losses from its ravages. 
In addition to all this, there is the undeniable fact that the 
existence of the disease on our soil persistently imposes a most 
oppressive tax on our exports to England, as is clearly shown in 
another article in the current number of the Journal , where this 
aspect of the question is fully presented. 
